Divided We Stand
by Personification of Fluff
Summary: Cain's a dragon. It is his decision to war to uphold the oaths his people made long. The problem? Among his opposition is his Soulmate, the one person he can’t kill. When the two choose to defect, the decision to war may no longer be Cain's to make...
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Divided We Stand

**Author:** Personification of Fluff

**Rating:** Pg-14, for swearing, nudity, mature subject matter, and violence.

**Spoilers:** None. You can read this even if you haven't read all of the books without worrying. J

**AN**: This is my NaNoWriMo for 2006. I have a lot of course about gender, class, and race and looking at how they interact. After freaking out and reading some NightWorld fan fiction, I was astonished to see that some of the writers here have incorporated such ideas into their fan fiction and I wanted to add on to their existing literature. I also, like them, wanted to expand more on the Night World outside of the United States, which is something we don't get to hear about very often. I set it in Canada in Victoria, British Columbia—a beautiful place I'd love to visit again.

**Dedications:** To Akira, aka the Mad Chef, whose pride made me feel like I had written something good. And to Sparrow S. Hellcat and Ace, without whose friendly competition I never would have finished NaNo. And to Ninalee-chan, who, if you read this, I did not base Nina on you in any way! In my mind she just look a Nina, because it was a good name for someone who could turn into a cougar.

**Summary**: Due to increasing violence in Victoria, a third faction has arisen not affiliated with the Circles or with the Council. They lack a name. They are made up of shifters, werewolves, and humans, and vampires alike. There's only one thing relating them to each other: they want to bring back the dragons. Claiming to have found the spells to resurrect them, the secret lies in the blood of a young girl who has one foot in the realm of the dragon's kin, and the other in the prey.

Kaneonuskatew is a dragon. When he rises, he will have to decide whether or not he should start a war to uphold the oaths his people made long ago. The only problem is that on the side opposing him stands his Soulmate, and the one person he can't kill. Her blood holds the key to raising his kin. But people are made Soulmates for a reason, and despite everything, they learn that they have more in common than what meets the eye. The question is, what will their comrade in arms do when they learn that they are defecting?

**

* * *

**

**I n t r o d u c t i o n**

"It'll be okay," Eliza said.

The woman on the hospital bed looked up at the nurse. Her dark eyes were glazed over from drugs and herbs, but Eliza could still feel the strength of the woman's hidden power. There was a deep power in those ancient, green eyes. There was pain too. Eliza averted her eyes when she saw the pain. Lines had creased the woman's beautiful face which she never should have carried at such a young age. The nurse's skin flooded with goose bumps when the drugged woman spoke, her voice harsh, reminding the middle-aged witch of the harsh cry of predatory birds.

"What'll be okay? The baby will be born? It won't be a still birth? I don't care. I _don't_ care!" Her voice filled with a guttural growl as she collapsed back on the bed, her damp hair clinging to her flushed cheeks. "Let the child die, just get it the hell out of me."

Dr. MacLean patted Eliza's shoulder. Eliza was still surprised to see the doctor was a vampire. Not every patient was exactly thrilled to see that their obstetrician was a member of the blood-sucking, living dead, but Nina hadn't cared. She had taken one look at him and had nodded approvingly. Eliza wondered if maybe Nina's cool and almost pleased expression at seeing Edward's stern face was the first sign that something was… off with the expecting woman.

_Don't be too hard on her,_ Edward MacLean said through telepathy to Eliza. _She was raped._

The witch's face flushed and she had to try hard to keep from staring at Nina. "Goddess…"

Edward MacLean took Nina's wrist to check her pulse. With a nod he let it go. "The child still hasn't turned, and you're fully ready to give birth. We can either turn it around naturally or go in for a C-section." The man's hazel eyes remained unemotional as ice as he paused, letting Nina's mind absorb the information. "If we do it naturally, there is a small chance that the baby will become entangled in the umbilical cord and suffocate. I won't lie to you. I've been doing this for seventy years, but I'm not perfect."

"I don't want the Caesarean," Nina declared. She held her head high with pride, despite the way her dark locks clung to her neck. She didn't seem the least bit uncomfortable with the way her skin was shining with sweat. She seemed simply eager to get it over with.

She could still remember everything about that night nine months ago. She could still remember his voice, his smell, his aftershave, the taste of his tongue… hell, she could still remember the brand of jeans he'd been wearing that night. The image of the button on his pants, Levi jeans imprinted on the gold metal, passing through the buttonhole of his pants as he pulled them down was ingrained into the back of her eyelids, present every time she blinked or shut her eyes. He still haunted her in every little thing she did and he always would.

Nina was a shape shifter. She had strength and agility which would have made the bones of the hands that tore of her clothes shatter like twigs under her grip, but that hadn't mattered. He had slipped something into her drink when she had taken her eyes off of it. She didn't know what drug it had been; she hadn't even known something was wrong until her body stopped responding to her commands.

The man didn't even know she was a Night Worlder. He had no idea that living parallel to his bland, human world was the Nigh World: an alliance of shape shifters, werewolves, vampires, and witches. He had no idea that they were everywhere; that the politician he'd voted for had been a werewolf or that the bartender was a vampire, or that his landlord's apartment always smelled a little smoky because the grey-haired woman was casting spells at night.

He had no idea that there was a hierarchy in that society. He had no idea that vampires were ridiculously powerful and heavily engaged in their politics. He had no idea that the shifters like Nina were considered animals and worthless, expendable. He had no idea that when the conclaves had been made the shifters and werewolves had been used as fodder to build the cities by hand, or that they were treated like animals and kept out of certain Night World clubs because letting them in was akin to letting a dog into the local shopping mall: you didn't want them shitting on your floor.

No. When he'd picked her, it had nothing to do with the fact that she was a shape shifter and a part of the lower castes of the Night World. It didn't even have anything to do with the fact that she'd been associate with Circle Daybreak, a branch of the Night World tired of the secrecy who wanted to live alongside humans peacefully, shunned from the rest of their society because the were "hippies" and "idiots" and "suicidal fools".

He had been a human. He had been a _handsome_ human; a good-looking human with red-gold hair with the slightest curl and blue eyes and a stubborn chin with an adorable little cleft. He'd had a nice smile that revealed laugh lines in his cheeks. He'd been white. He'd targeted Nina because she was Native American.

He'd left her behind the bar when he was done with her. Slowly, the feeling had returned to her body. Slowly, Nina had gathered up her torn clothes and sobbed as she tried to cover up her naked breasts and the bruises he'd left behind. She had gone right home and showered. She didn't bother going to the cops. What would they have done? She was a minority. Nina had learned long ago from history that you were only raped if you were white; if you weren't you'd been asking for it.

Worse yet, what if she got a Night World cop? If they didn't believe her because she was a Native, they definitely wouldn't believe her when they told her that a human had done it.

At first Nina had wanted to hunt him down. His stench still haunted her, fueling her aggression. She could track him down… but she never did. She was scared that she would freeze with fear and mess up the kill. Besides, that would draw attention to her. There weren't very many cougars in downtown Victoria. It would be obvious to the Night World that a shifter had done it. They'd come down hard on her for breaking the rules, and she'd be kicked out of Daybreak—

Oh, screw Daybreak. Nina withdrew from the organization. She didn't feel like arguing that humans and Night Worlders could live together peacefully anymore.

A few weeks later she found out she was pregnant. She denied it for the next two weeks. After her morning sickness started and her stomach slowly began expanding, she couldn't deny it any longer. That son of a bitch had made her pregnant.

After accepting it she tried to get rid of it. She went to some of the covens to ask for help. She wanted to get rid of the child naturally. She didn't want any of the human drugs fucking up her system even more. The witches had initially been against the abortion, but after Nina had explained the circumstances they had agreed to help.

Nothing had worked. The kid was stubborn. Laying on her back, feeling MacLean's hands inside of her as he turned the child, Nina growled and reflected on it. Her kid _was_ stubborn. Even after her water had broken and her cervix had dilated, her kid still hadn't turned. The kid just refused to leave the womb.

"You're going to have to start to push," Ed instructed.

Nina's voice was forced. She was already out of breath. "Have you given birth to shifters before?"

Edward's eyes were as cold as steel, but Nina had only ever heard the used to discuss grey eyes. His eyes were hazel, not blue or grey. She was glad they weren't blue. She hated blue eyes now. There was another reason why Nina had gone to the witches; they tended to be female, while most doctors were still male. Edward was the first male Nina had allowed near her since the incident behind the bar. "I have."

Her eyes held a hint of respect for him. "If the child comes out human, kill it."

Eliza gasped from shock, but MacLean understood. Shape shifters were born half-humanoid and half-animal. Sometimes birthing them was deadly simply due to their size. Luckily, they were passive until they got their first breath. Edward had seen shifters born with tails or hind feet or snouts or curled, furled ears. As much as he liked ruining the image of the cold-hearted, bastardized vampire, he had to admit that they were cute critters, even when they came out covered in blood and fur or feathers.

Shape shifters were strange to the night World. They had one foot in the human world and one in the animal world. They were too social and intellectual for the animal world, but sometimes they were too instinctual and brutal for the human world. If Nina's child was born entirely human, it was a sign that the child might never be able to change shape. They'd be even worse off than other shifters, never fully understanding why they had the instincts and desires of an animal, feeling the pull for the forests and the hunt, and yet incapable of assuming their true forms. They'd always feel like they had been born into the wrong bodies.

It would be easier, Edward agreed, to put the child out of its misery than let it live alienated from the rest of society.

"Push harder," Edward said. He was guiding the child out with his hands. He could feel Nina pushing. "Keep going, Nina. I can see the head."

The head emerged. Edward was disappointed when he saw a lack of fur or whiskers or feline nose. The rest of the baby fell out. It was a female. For everything Nina had reported having done to abort the child, she seemed healthy. Ten fingers, ten toes… She was a little small, but that could have been easily genetics. Dark hair clung to her head in little curls, and her eyes were wide and blue. Instinct kicked in and Edward slapped the baby's bottom, sending the lungs free and the baby shut her eyes, bawling. Then he stared at her, uncertain of what to do. She was fully human.

Nina struggled to sit up and see. "Is it human?"

His voice wavered. "Yes."

"Don't kill it! Please, don't kill her!" They stared at the nurse, as if they had forgotten that Eliza was even in the room. "You don't want to raise her, right? I'll raise her."

"You don't understand, Eliza." Ed's voice was soft as he tried to be comforting and heard over the child's bawl. "This way is more humane."

"Please!"

Edward and Nina looked at each other. Finally, Nina shrugged. "I don't care what happens to it, just so long as I don't ever after to see her again. I never wanted her. It's up to you, doctor."

With a decisive snip, Edward cut the umbilical cord. Wrapping the child in swaddling clothes, he handed the little girl to Eliza.

* * *

For a long time Eliza was happy with her decision. Nina agreed, after much pleading, to act as a wet nurse until the girl could be weaned. The girl, whom Eliza decided to name Bethany continued to be small for her age. She acted and appeared human.

But as Bethany aged, certain nuances became stronger and more obvious. Deep down she was a cat. Eliza saw it in the way Bethany curled up to watch television, or how she had a habit of watching the dust float by. It was the way she craned her neck to see sounds Eliza hadn't noticed, how she sat over her food to eat it, how she licked her lips, how she craved fish… It slowly dawned on Eliza that she could not keep the truth from Bethany as she had once thought possible.

She told her when Bethany was eight. Eight, Eliza had decided, was a good age. Bethany was old enough to understand, and yet possessing a fluid enough personal identity that she alter it to accept the circumstances of her birth.

Eliza had expecting anything: anger, tears, rage… What she had not expected was the steadfast acceptance. Bethany had smiled and had said: 'Thank you for telling me. I've known. I've always known that I was different—and that you weren't my birth mother. All I had to do was look in the mirror.'

When Beth was ten she asked if there were others like her. She asked where she could go. Eliza had known that sending her daughter out into the world, she would be used. Daybreak always needed more members. It would result in heavy workloads and training and subterfuge and danger, but it would mean that maybe Beth would meet people who were like her and could help guide her through life.

"Yes," Eliza had said weakly. "There's a place. It's called Circle Daybreak."

* * *

The vampire licked his lips, watching the girl as she walked down the street. She was listening to music. She'd never hear him come up behind her. It was serendipitous that a girl like this would show up at just the right time. His last food supply had finally expired and she was just his type: breakable.

She was young and petite. He pegged her as being maybe thirteen, possibly a year young or older. She was walking quickly. There was a stubborn tilt to her chin and pride in the way she held her head. He thought it would be fun to make her beg.

He approached quietly and from behind. He wasn't carrying a weapon. His hands would be quick and strong enough to knock her out. All it took with these fragile humans was a good knock to the backs of their skulls. His feet were almost soundless against the pavement. He pulled up alongside her, hands in his pockets, and he smiled kindly when he saw her startle.  
"Are you lost?" His voice was smooth and rich, chocolaty and inviting.

"No." Her eyes were hidden by glasses.

"Your schoolbags look heavy. If you'd like, I could carry it for you."

Her voice was sharp. Instinctively she lifted a hand, grabbing the sash of her backpack in case he was trying to steal it. "No, thank you."

He had enough of role playing. Grabbing her arm, his other hand clamped around her mouth to stifle her shouts of protest. He dragged her down an alleyway and shoved her against a dumpster. She froze when she saw his mouth and the fangs framing it. He smiled, enjoying her fear.

"Do you know what happened to the last little girl I met? I took her home. Every other night I fed from her. She lasted two months until her body finally gave up. Do you think you'll last any longer?"

She brought up her knee. His world blurred when it connected to his groin. She tried to run but vampires recovered quickly, even from such a blow. He began wrestling her to the ground, one hand locked in her long black hair. She was screaming. He couldn't stand it when they screamed like that—whimpering was another matter entirely, but screaming was so goddamn loud that it hurt his sensitive ears. He slapped her face—hard—to silence her, pinning her back against the dumpster. Her glasses were flung from her face. The vampire wetted his lips and opened his mouth, then froze when he saw her eyes.

Oh, she was _good_! He'd been perfectly fooled by her little drama until he saw her eyes. She'd been running and screaming as if she were truly frightened, but there wasn't a drop of fear in her eyes. Hell, she wasn't even human, as much as she looked like it from behind and reeked of it. He could see it now: the faint hints of the deadly grace that singled out all of the Night Worlders. The secret was in her eyes; they were hazel, warm brown and leaf green mingled together with flecks of gold. Cat eyes, he thought.

"Oh, fuck me."

He heard a gun click. He had been so busy concentrating on the fight that he never heard the other vampire approach until he heard the safety go off. Something cold metal pressed against is head. "Let her go. You're under arrest."

* * *

Beth's hands were still shaking when her co-workers pushed the vamp into the unmarked squad car and drove away. Her hands tightened around the Tim Horton's coffee mug she held. Nicolas Rappaport sat next to her on the curb on the street.

"I've got a history test tomorrow on Canada and the Second World War," she told him.

He smiled. "Need help studying? I was alive at the time, you know."

Beth looked up at him. She missed Nick when he wasn't around. For a vampire, he was an okay guy. "I know you're old, Nick, but you were still only ten in 1941. You can't pull the wool over my eyes."

He laughed. "You did good today, Beth. It's always a pleasure working with you. You always surprise me. When's your next job?"

She scowled into her tea. Between it, the warmth, and Nicolas' familiar presence she was feeling better already. The bruises the vampire had given her were stiff, but they would be gone before school the following morning. Sometimes, she hated her job. Sometimes, she really was afraid. What kept her fear in check was the knowledge that she was only the bait. At the same moment that she would be fighting off the suspect, Nick and his team were already on their way in to arrest him.

When she had walked into Daybreak, at once they had recognized her potential. At ten she had not the mentality to be a Daybreak agent, but she could be the bait. Bethany had done so, and voluntarily. She wanted to catch the men who were like her birth father.

She'd always liked acting. Now, on an average of once a week, she played different people, becoming the criminal's favorite target. It gave her a feeling of pride, knowing that she was malleable. Once a week she was a scantily clad kid dancing provocatively in a bar, and the next week she was a meek and docile schoolgirl waiting for the bus, too afraid to put up resistance.

Because she was the bait, she worked with different groups on different cases. Nick's group was her most favorite to work with.

At fifteen, almost sixteen, Bethany was underdeveloped for her age. Slim, she lacked fat or obvious muscle. Daybreak liked her because she looked younger than she really was; it was easier to use Bethany dressed up to make her look eleven than it was to use a real eleven year old. With her hair in pigtails and wearing Lasenza Girl clothes, people had been known to mistake her for eleven easily.

To boot, she was also a half shifter. When she needed to, if things were going down badly, she was stronger and faster than a regular human. She was, by leagues, still weaker than a vampire, but she could still take a lot more physical punishment than a regular human could and live through it. She had better than human smell and hearing, but her vision was barely considered standard, a curse of her human genes. There was no ethereal beauty or power that screamed 'Night Worlder'. She looked and appeared completely human. Because of that ability, her capability to soak of damage and heal quickly, and her acting talent, Daybreak had often said that if Bethany could change her shape and use telepathy, she'd be a perfect agent for them.

Bethany, at fifteen, still could not change her shape, nor could she use telepathy. She didn't mind not having telepathy. Not being able to shield her mind was another matter. It was increasingly becoming a liability that someone could read her mind and see the trap and the whole thing would be blown. But it had its upsides too; Nicolas usually kept a mental link with her to keep an eye out for trouble and know when to come in. Besides, trying to use telepathy made her nose itch.

Though she tried to convince others that she didn't mind not being able to change her shape, no one believed her. That was one act Beth couldn't pull off. It did bother her. Whenever she looked in the mirror, she felt a pang of sadness that opened up a well of insecurity. Daybreak called her a shape shifter, but she wasn't, really. She couldn't be a shape shifter if she couldn't change her shape.

"Come on, Beth." The red-haired vampire stood up and grabbed her knapsack for her. "I'll give you a ride home. Don't forget to call Eliza. She'll be worried about."

She was simply _not human_. Bethany felt trapped—and in the wrong body.

* * *


	2. Dawn

**C h a p t e r O n e : D a w n**

The cafeteria was crowded and noisy. School cafeterias were always crowded and noisy. It was the result of having so many teenagers crammed together into a small space. It was, however, an almost unbearable situation when you were a shape shifter. The smell of Bethany's lunch was drowned out by perfume, cologne, and the other odors people doused themselves in to cover up their true scents. The noise was another matter entirely. Beth continued to pick up bits of conversations from other tables. She didn't particularly want or care to know how Elizabeth's date went or where Justin got his new pants.

Biting into her ham sandwich, Beth tilted her head to read the headline of the on the front of the Victorian newspaper. In shockingly large letters it screamed: LOCAL MISSING GIRL FOUND DEAD. Bethany sighed and shook her head. "That's the second girl found this month alone. There were four similar murders last month."

Kotori pushed her juice over to the side and opened the newspaper across the table so that Beth could see the second part of the article. "She was found without any blood in her. People are still debating if it's murder or suicide."

Beth regarded her best friend inquisitively. "If it's found without blood, it's obviously the vampires," she muttered, her voice low so only Kotori could hear her. "Why would the police be dumb enough to think that it was a suicide? Don't we have anybody on the inside who's aware that vampires exist?"

For a moment her best friend's face lit up into a smile. "Actually, I think Daybreak has a lamia on the inside. No, it's because of how the girl was drained of blood. There's no bite marks on her, Beth. Her wrists were found sliced. The only problem is that…"

"They didn't find any blood at the crime scene, just like the other murders."

"Yes. And because of that, they know someone moved the body…"

"They just don't know if whoever moved her was an accomplice to suicide or her killer." Beth sighed as Kotori nodded. That was the problem exactly.

Kotori had been Bethany's best friend since they had met in grade school. The competition had sparked between them immediately. In grade school, they had always been trying to do better academically than the other, and Beth had traditionally come out on top in the mathematics and the sciences. When it came to English and anything physical, however, Kotori could easily beat Bethany. When Bethany had joined Circle Daybreak, the friendship which had thrived on healthy competition became entrenched in partnership.

Taller than Bethany and slender, Kotori seemed Bethany's opposite. She was Japanese, and Bethany thought she was beautiful. Her hair always seemed to stay in place and was always healthy looking, while Bethany had to try and tame her hair down to beat out the static. She was envious that Kotori was developing right on schedule and the boys paid her compliments to try and get into her good graces. Kotori was the better fighter, and had the ability to shift. While Beth was not jealous of Kotori's ability to fly, she wished she could know the freedom and euphoria Kotori experienced in shifting.

Both of them were partners with Nicolas Rappaport. While Bethany played the bait, whenever they worked outside during the daytime they got Kotori to work as the lookout. As a hawk she had the perfect view from everything up in the sky in the daylight. More than once had Bethany's life been saved by Kotori's sharp skills. Beth, in all honesty, was hoping that she never needed to return the favor.

"Does it mention her name?" Bethany inquired, still munching on her ham sandwich. She couldn't stand the taste and the feeling of it in her mouth and had covered it in Deli-style mustard to try and cover up the gritty taste of the processed ham. It made Beth's stomach churn to think that some part of her yearned for fresh, raw meat when she lacked the ability to actually process it.

"Melissa Bell."

Bethany froze mid-chew. She swallowed. The food felt like a rock as it slid down her throat. "Melissa Bell? I… I went to school with her. Goddess, I… I never even knew she was missing." Bethany put down her lunch. It was no longer appetizing. Her green eyes were wet with tears and compassion, and yet she couldn't bring herself to cry and openly mourn for Melissa. The two of them hadn't spoken since Melissa's parents had moved to Nanaimo.

"You know, she was a werewolf. She left the year before you came to school, Kotori. I was always trying to figure out why Melissa was able to keep running with the boys in gym class. It was because she had this ingrained instinct to run. I think that's why they ended up moving. You could see that the city was killing their family. They longed for the outdoors, so they moved outside Nanaimo."

Kotori could understand their disgust with the city. Victoria was a beautiful town, but she had adapted to it. She was a scavenger and could live anywhere there was fresh meat. A wolf was completely different. Mostly the people who lived inside the city were those who could survive within it: raccoons, ravens, smaller birds of prey like herself, even skunks and porcupines. The larger animals like the bear-shifters or the wolves tried it but often found it was too cramped, noisy, and smelly for them to stand for very long.

"I knew the last girl they found," Kotori said. She was always soft-spoken, but Beth could feel the growing pity and curiosity in her voice that had given it a murmuring cadence. "She was a shape shifter, too."

Beth's head lifted. Her eyes locked with Kotori's brown ones. Both thought flashed between them at once. She nodded. "The first boy that they took was a bear-shifter. He must have been as easy target. Apparently he was homeless."

"They're getting them from everywhere: Victoria, the interior…"

"They? We still can't rule out that there's… _something_ getting the shape shifters to kill themselves. But yeah, I agree. They. This reeks of the Council. The vampires are up to something, I know they are. We should call Nick, tell him our theory."

At the mention of the cute vampire, Kotori's cheeks immediately began darkening. She fumbled in her back pack for her cell phone and pushed it across to Bethany, avoiding her friend's gaze. "You call him and tell him. I… I want to finish reading the article."

Beth often wondered why Kotori became so nervous around Nicolas. She wondered if maybe it was because he was white. She knew that Kotori's parents were a little… adamant about the _kinds_ of friends that Kotori kept. They didn't like her hanging out with white people, or humans, or certain other shape shifters… or boys. Kotori's parents had said that she was not allowed to date until after high school. Nor did they like her hanging around Night Worlders.

Nicolas was a Daybreaker, white, a vampire and a boy. They were damning marks against him. Bethany wondered if maybe Kotori avoided any contact with Nick that wasn't related to Daybreak work because was worried about offending her parents.

Kotori was already going to be in enough trouble if her parents found out that she was a member of Victoria's Daybreak chapter. If they knew that her superior officer was a Jewish Caucasian male vampire, then Kotori might be grounded until she was too old to be eligible for dating.

The phone ringing in her ear broke her stream of thought. "Rapapport."

"It's Beth."

Nick yawned in the phone. She heard him move, stifling a groan. "Beth, it's noon. What are you doing calling me so early?"

Her mouth set itself into a thin line. "Poor Nicolas, getting woken up at noon. You don't hear Kotori or I complaining when you keep us up to two in the morning and we still have to be at school for eight am, do you? What time did you go to bed that you complain about being woken up at noon?"

"Seven am. I got called in… have you read a newspaper lately?" Immediately he seemed more awake. He spoke quickly whenever he became excited. "They found another body. I got called in to work the scene with some of the other senior guys… I was planning on calling you and Kotori after school. Is… is Kotori there with you?"

Beth arched an eyebrow. Kotori, still blushing furiously, was leaning across the table to try and overhear Nick's portion of the conversation. "…yes."

"Good. Listen, the girl that they killed was a…"

"Shifter. We know. I went to school with her. They were all shifters, Nick. That's our theory."

"Not all of them were, Beth. Two were human. All the others, you're right. With the exception of a human male and one human female, they were all shape shifters of some kind or another. Someone is targeting shape shifters. They dumped the body last night. Looks like they're going to need another one soon. We've determined their MO is to pick up one as soon as they dump the other. We just don't know why it's taken them a week between bodies. And frankly, I don't want to know. We have one shot at doing this, and the sooner it is, the better. Daybreak's ordered everyone out, each with a different section of the city. Can you and Kotori skip the rest of the day?"

"Kotori'd be missing a test next period."

"Fine. Go to third. You know what Daybreak says. School comes first with you two. There will always be enough time to save the world, but high school only happens once. We'll swing by. Meet us around the block behind the school between third and fourth. I'll fill you two in on the plan as we go."

Without another word, he hung up. Beth turned off the cell phone feeling a little dejected. Nick was a nice guy, but when work got in his way he often forgot his manners. He was probably already busy calling the rest of the team to get them assembled for their meeting.

Kotori was frowning, but there was a hint of laughter in her almond-shaped eyes. "Damn. I was really hoping to get out that science test."

* * *

Standing at the corner of the intersection, Bethany pulled her sweatshirt closer to her, as if seeking a comfort in the soft feel of the fabric. She was, for the first time in her life, the lookout, and she did not like the feeling. The bad guys—whoever they were—were after shape shifters. Kotori was playing the bait, as Bethany lacked the signs and behavior typical of shape shifters. Bethany had instead been assigned to the role of lookout. She had been ordered to keep an eye out for anyone acting suspicious or looking like trouble. Kotori's safety, Nick had been sure to make absolutely clear, was in her hands. 

Beth was already worrying that she was going to fail and Kotori was going to get hurt.

They were in a dangerous end of town. The hunched old man with the brown-wrapped bottle clutched tightly in his hand across the street made her even more worried. She didn't like the neighborhood. It was dirty and filthy. It wasn't safe for her. What if she got accosted? What if a drunk started to bother her? What if… what if a lot of things.

Kotori stood down the street. Daybreak's team had taken away the jeans she had been wearing and the red blouse, replacing it with ripped and torn acid wash jeans and a black hoodie too large for her. They had taken her exquisite hair and had done it up messily with a bandanna, marking her as some kind of a gang member. She no longer looked like Kotori and Beth didn't like it.

Daybreak had given Beth the same outfit; different gang. They said they wanted Kotori to look like a better target by ensuring that there was no one there willing to help her. A rival gang member would be more willing to help take her down than to come to her rescue. Now all they had to do was wait.

An hour passed. Beth leaned against the wall behind her. Her legs actually hurt from standing for so long. Kotori was still standing, showing no sign of wear. The fall night was growing colder.

"My Mom's going to start getting worried when I don't show up for supper. Someone call her for me and explain the situation, please?" Beth said into the microphone hidden in her hoodie sweater.

_Already taken care of, Beth._ _Eliza sends her love and promises to have a hot supper waiting for you with a hot chocolate._ Nick's voice was amused as his thoughts drifted into her mind.

"Are you making fun of me for liking hot chocolate?" she demanded.

_With the way you crave sugar, I'm surprised you haven't moved on to coffee by now,_ Nick said. _We'll give it another hour. That's how long Kotori can stay out before her mother gets suspicious. If she asks, you and her were helping each other study at the school library. Typical cover story, Beth. This is really going to piss off the boss. We were really hoping to nab them tonight. Now we're just going to have to wait until the next body shows up and they need another victim. Do you see _anything _suspicious at your end?_

"Let's see… the drunk across the street appears to be snoring. Two guys just stepped out of the Mac's down the street a little. They bought smokes, it looks like. There's also a lady of the evening…"

_A prostitute._

"Prostitute sounds so uncultured," Beth complained in her defense. It was her report. She'd call them what she wanted to call them.

_It may to you, but hearing you say 'lady of the evening' makes it sound like you're too much of a prude to call them a prostitute. You sound like you really are twelve when you say it like that. At least I didn't suggest that you call her a whore._

"Bite me," Beth spat, irate. She was cold, sore, and hungry, and now her commanding officer was ragging on her for her choice of words. Beth didn't have the patience to argue with him. "Give me four. The guys with the smokes have decided to light up right behind me."

_This is a bad neighborhood, Beth. I'm sending Alicia over there to give you some cover incase the natives become aggressive._

Bethany let out a small sigh of relief. Nick was always watching out for her and Kotori. It was nice to have someone like that in charge of the team. Nick recognized that there was safety in numbers. No member of his team was insignificant to him. Beth would work better knowing that she had a woman who could turn into a bear there to watch her back.

"She looks dumpy," one man noted. Beth's cheeks flared. Were they calling her dumpy?!

"Yeah? So?"

"Well, how do you know that they'll like dumpy? Maybe they'll choose to ignore her based upon her looks. I'm telling you, we need a virgin Native American. If anything will make their blood boil, it'll be the death of someone like that—a death that they should have protected and defended!"

One of the men laughed. Bethany heard a click. The smell of a menthol cigarettes drifted towards her. She wrinkled her nose at the smell. "You're a fist class guy, Louis. It's bad enough taking girls off the street, but now you want us to catch our own women and hurt them. Then what? We'll wake them up and all their anger will fall down on our own heads. I don't think so. Take her. The kid is working on analysing the texts still. Maybe by the time we take his one back to the 'shop, he'll have figured something out. Then if she's not right, we can just exchange her for another one."

"Can't we just keep her? I don't need my organs bloody. You and Emile could have a meal of her first and then Zhi and I could join in."

Bethany froze. Her skin was ragged with goose bumps. They were talking about killing and eating girls. They were talking about Kotori. It was them! It was the people she was supposed to look out for!

"Nick? Nick!" she hissed into the microphone, moving away from the men and trying not to look conspicuous doing so. One of them sounded like a vampire. That was the one smoking the menthol; the one who could 'have a meal' of Kotori. The other one seemed to be a shape shifter or a werewolf of some kind. That was why he liked organs. Shape shifters had to have a regular supply of fresh meat to remain powerful…. Bethany didn't want them to over hear her conversation, and both vampires and shape shifters had supernatural hearing.

She ducked around the corner of an alleyway, parallel to where Nick was hiding. Leaning against the wall of a brick building she shoved her hands in her jean pocklets, trying to look casual. Down the alleyway she heard a rat knock something over as it scurried away. "Nick, damnit, they're right behind me. The guys with the smokes! It's them!"

_Stay where you are,_ he told her quickly. _We need them to make the first move to make it an official arrest. I'm pulling Alicia back. Don't engage in a fight unless it's absolutely necessary. I'm across the street from you. If you need help, I'll be there in a heartbeat._

"What about Kotori?"

_She can fly away to safety and she's a better fighter than you are, Beth. She also has Alicia and Rodney to help her out. The three of them, plus the potential of background cover from me should be more than enough to keep Kotori safe._

Beth nodded. She knew she looked silly doing it, but who was there to see it whose opinion mattered to her? The hooker? The two assailants? The sleeping drunk? She was nodding for Nick, knowing now that he could see her.

"Is Zhi Niao ready?"

"Yup."

"Great. Let's do this. Sic, Louis."

"Fuck you, Mac."

The vampire—Mac—chuckled. "I've always wanted to say that."

Bethany shuddered. Louis was shifting. She could hear him doing it. There was the sound of bones breaking and then mending as his knees changed directions.

Seconds later, a wolf went running by, a grey blur. The few people out on the dangerous streets were crying out in fear. The wolf howled, reveling in their fear. Beth heard Kotori's voice joining in the cries and she knew the wolf had reached her friend. The joyful howl was suddenly shadowed by the roar of a bear. Beth's heart skipped a few beats out of fear from the sheer sound. She wished she could sound like that.

Positioning herself where she could see the fight, Beth saw Alicia strike the wolf away from Kotori. She bit the wolf's neck, trying to force it to submit. Rodney, a male witch, stood in front of Kotori protectively. Fire had gathered in his hands, ready to fire.

"Why hasn't the other man attacked?" she asked, speaking into the mike. "Nick, what's he doing? Nick!" Her voice had a panicked edge to it. Why wasn't he answering? Beth couldn't see what was happening if she had to remain hidden. If the man was about to do something that was going to hurt her friend, she wanted to stop him!

_I'm okay_, he finally answered. _The prostitute's one of them. She's got me tangled up in a grapple right now. The vampire's heading towards Kotori. See if you can stop him!_

Beth rooted her legs and lowered her shoulders, getting ready for a bull rush. She could hear the vampire coming her way. He was downwind, but she knew that he would smell like his menthol smokes: potent and overly sweet. His footsteps were coming hard and fast. He was running. Beth concentrated on the sounds of his footsteps, waiting for him to get within range.

She took off before he could even see him, knowing he had drawn close. He was running down the sidewalk. Beth launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist and drawing him down.

The vampire went down hard. The wind was loosed from Beth's lungs from the impact on the pavement. The vampire was worse off but faster to recover. He pulled one leg free while Beth was getting back her second wind and kicked her hard in the face with the heel of his boot. The strike connected with her cheek. She could taste the blood running on to her tongue from the inside of her cheek.

He paused for a moment. His eyes widened when he saw her face up close. "You're not human!"

"Neither are you." She kept her eyes lowered, protecting them from his strikes and punches as he fought back, trying to shake her loose.

She grappled back, trying to keep him pinned until someone could come and put the wooden handcuffs on him. Wood was the only thing to keep a vampire secure; they could break the metal ones. A second strike sent blood running down the opposite cheek from his nails. It hurt and the blood was uncomfortably warm and sticky but she tenaciously hung on. Her upper lip curled up in a snarl, revealing teeth which were a little too sharp to be normal.

No matter how stubborn she was or how honest her intentions, he was too strong. Beth's stomach churned as he flipped her, pining her to the street and using his body weight to hold her down. She could feel shards of rock and glass from the street attempting to poke through her thick shirt. Her throat closed in fear when she saw his face. He was a nice-looking young man, with deeply tanned skin, jet black hair and blue eyes. He was obviously Native American, and of mixed descent somewhere along the lines, judging from his blue eyes. Shock ran through Beth when she saw his mouth open in preparation for striking her exposed neck. She tried to draw in the breath to scream but couldn't.

Then his eyes locked with hers. There was an instant connection. His mind was right there. She could feel it, but she could not read his thoughts. He had been about to speak to her. The rest of the world drifted away. It was just him and her, and somewhere deep within herself, Bethany recognized him.

_I know you_, she thought desperately.

And then the sensation was gone. The connection was broken. He had pulled away and was running, retreating. The wolf had managed to escape Alicia and was running along beside him. Beth sat up, dusting off her clothes. Kotori was running over to help her from one direction, Nicolas from the other.

"Did he hurt… God." Nick's face paled when he saw the bruise under the dirt on one cheek and the blood on the other. "You're bleeding."

"It's okay, Nick." She took the hand Kotori offered her and pulled herself up. Kotori kindly helped to dust the rocks, dirt, and glass from her back.

"No, it's not okay. You weren't supposed to get hurt."

"She said it was okay, Nicolas," Kotori spat, unusually snappy.

Nick glanced between the two young women. His gaze lingered on the blood running down Beth's cheek with shame, but it was when he turned to Kotori that he looked helpless. "Kotori, I…"

"Drop it, Nick!" Even Beth looked up at her friend with surprise. Kotori's brown eyes were snapping with anger. Not even when Kotori turned away from the vampire and let Beth lean on her shoulder did she lose the anger and snap in her voice. "Come on. We'll get the first aid kit from the van and clean you up. Then I really need to get home. My parents are going to kill me if I stay out any longer."

Beth allowed her friend to take her to the van, guiding her gently. She was quiet all the way home. Everyone was. The whole car felt somber, but while they were reflecting on their failure and its consequences, Beth could only think of one thing: who in the world had she been fighting?

* * *

AN: Louis and Mac rock. I wish they had more time on screen together.  
For everyone commenting on eye color: I had been informed that a mjority of babies have blue eyes when they are born and then they darken as the person grows up. I myself was like that. Beth's eyes are green and will forever remain green henceforth. :) I hpe you enjoyed chapter one.


	3. Daybreak

**C h a p t e r T w o**

**D a y b r e a k**

Eliza had been pleased that Beth had gotten home safely. She had clucked and worried over Beth's scratches and had announced that the scratch marks from the vampire's nails were deep enough that at least one was probably going to scar. Nick had also fretted and had refused to leave until he knew that Beth wasn't emotionally scarred on anything. Eliza had to shoo him out, the way Beth had seen Eliza shoo out lost animals.

It was because of his persistence that, as Bethany stayed up to do homework, her thoughts kept drifting to Nicolas.

She'd met him years before. The idea of vampires had always scared Bethany, but not Nick. He was always kind and considerate and wonderfully smart. When she had started high school he had checked over all her essays. Beth admired Nicolas greatly. That admiration, in the course of an evening, had changed to agitation.

What if… what if he liked her? What if that was the reason behind the sudden over-protectiveness? That would be problematic. For one, Beth didn't like Nicolas romantically. He was more like her teacher. She respected him and cared for his well being, and yes, she loved him in the way people loved on older brother, but she wasn't attracted to him. Worse, they worked together. Beth knew that if she was going to like a boy, he wasn't going to be her partner, and especially not her boss.

Growing frustrated, Beth closed her science textbook. She was tired. She would finish her homework the following morning before class. As Beth walked down the narrow hallway to the washroom, she thought of the vampire boy with the blue eyes. Though she no longer felt a connection, she still could not shake the feeling of familiarity. She felt as though… she had seen the vampire before somewhere, long ago, or perhaps only for a moment. At elementary school, she decided, or maybe briefly at a party. Maybe it was not even unlikely that she'd seen his face on a wanted poster at work. That thought made her chuckle.

Her toothbrush lay next to the bathroom mirror. Routine automatically kicked in and she picked it up, applying toothpaste. It was only until she lifted her toothbrush to her teeth that she looked in the mirror and saw her own reflection.

Instantly, everything clicked. He had Native American blood in him. She had Native American blood, too. He had blue eyes. She had inherited the red highlights from the Caucasian man who had raped her mother. What if he had gotten the blue eyes from his father?

Yes. The way he held himself, the look in his eyes, the pride and arrogance in his voice. Yes! Staring at herself in the mirror, she could see it all now: the shape of the nose, the pride of not letting the world get to you, the glint of desire in the eyes that yearned to prove yourself, the tanned, cinnamon-colored skin, the shape of the mouth… _Yes!_ The toothbrush clattered into the sink.

"Holy shit. I have a brother."

XX

Eliza's fretting still hadn't abated by the following morning. It was beginning to grate on her nerves, but Bethany decided that she could endure it for one more morning. Eliza was making her waffles, as if it was her fault for Beth joining the Daybreak Circle. The waffles smelled wonderful, the pleasant aroma drifting lazily about a kitchen filled with cookie tins, doilies, and gold-coloured wooden furniture. When Eliza set the plate down in front of Bethany, she nearly lost her appetite, reminded of the question she needed to ask her mother.

"Mom… that man that raped my biological mother?" Eliza froze at once. Slowly, she became animated again, hiding her stoic face as she turned to the sink to rinse out the empty bowl of waffle batter. "Did they ever catch him?"

She turned off the water and let out a heavy sigh. "Eventually."

"So… so then, it is possible that he… he raped other people."

"As much as it pains me to say it, yes. I suppose that it is entirely likely. Given his nature, it is frighteningly too likely that he did to it to some other poor woman." Eliza picked up the hand towel and began to dry off her hands, sitting across from Beth at the kitchen table. "This is a subject you've always tried your best to avoid. Why the sudden change in heart, Beth?"

"At the fight last night there was a boy."  
The witch's eyes narrowed and her voice took a dangerous turn. Eliza was a sweet woman, but, like most witches, when the safety of her clan was threatened her anger and vengeance knew no bounds. It was a style of defense and aggression Beth had internalized long ago. "Was it the same boy who hurt you?"

Beth stared at the waffles. The juice from the strawberries was staining the waffles pink. "Yes."

Eliza's frame tightened. She shut her eyes, slowly opening them when she felt she had her emotions under control. "Did he ra… force himself on you?"

"No! No, oh Goddess, no. Nothing like that! I… he… I think that he's my brother."

She didn't know what to say. She folded the hand towel, making the corners match up perfectly, just because it gave her something to do. "And you're basing this on…"

"Intuition? We look alike, facially. But he's older than me. I don't actually think he came after me. I think he came before me, and then, when he turned seventeen, then someone changed him into a vampire. If the man was caught, then it means that there's a record of his name and charges. Maybe Daybreak will be able to find some information on these kidnappers using the police files as a launching pad."

Pushing back her chair, she leaned over the table and kissed Eliza's cheek. "I've got to get to Daybreak and tell them before school."

"Do you need a ride?"

"No. We were supposed to have a meeting this morning anyway to discuss what happened yesterday. Nick's on his way over to pick me up, and Kotori'll be coming with us. You just get ready for work, Mom. I can take care of myself."

Eliza sighed and kissed Bethany back. "I know you can. Bethy. The problem is that I wonder if it's too much too fast. You're only sixteen—seventeen come the spring. You should be thinking about boys and clothes and your grades, not saving the world and fighting crime. You're not a superhero, Beth."

"Of course not," replied the shape shifter. "Everyone knows that superheroes don't exist."

XX

"Your brother."

"Yes."

"Huh."

So far Alicia was the only one talking. Kotori was staring in surprise, Nicolas appeared dubious, and Roger, their witch, looked as if he was still processing the information Beth had presented to the Daybreak team.

Alicia, a large-shouldered black woman in her mid-twenties, leaned back in her chair. Her brown eyes twinkled and it was actually a little frightening. Alicia was rough and looked and acted that way. Heavily muscled, she was a powerhouse of strength and her voice was laced with poison. It was only after proving one's worth to Alicia that she revealed the delicate and sophisticated side of herself which balanced out the aggressive exterior.

She was a member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and owned a farm outside of Victoria where she could keep her animals and let them run wild. She had three cats and four dogs and lots of cows, and claimed that she kept her physique by shoveling manure and hay. She could play the violin and when she worked out she listen to Bach. But one could only learn that if they were able to put up with her affronting nature and abrupt humor.

"You know, Sugar, it doesn't surprise me that your brother is part of an evil, murdering gang. You're so good you need someone in your bloodline to balance you out."

"I'm not that good," Beth counted sternly.

"Of course you aren't, Sugar. No one is."

Roger spoke up. "And you're suggesting we…"

"Dig into the police records. If you find the records of the case, the names of his victims could be listed. Then we just find out which kid was born about eighteen years ago. Maybe we can get a name or an address or something we can use to try and identify the people involved. All we know at this point is that their group includes a male vampire who smokes menthol cigarettes, a male wolf-shifter, and a prostitute."

Kotori nodded. "Beth has a point. We don't exactly have a lot to go on."

"But resorting all that man power to digging into something that may not even turn out to be fruitful…" Nick ran his hand through his red hair. The short strands of hair bounced back into place. "It's plausible, but I'm not going to put any men on it. You'll be on it, Beth. Kotori can help We'll secure the transcripts of the case files for you and you two can go through it to look for something we can use to identify that vampire. Class starts in twenty minutes for you two. I'll take you two to school and I'll pick you two up when it ends with the case files."

"But I wanted to talk more about this whole brother-thing," Alicia whined. "I mean, this throws a wrench into the whole thing…"

Nicolas straightened, frowning at Alicia. The bear-shifter was hardly frightened, but it did remind her that she as speaking to a superior officer. "We can discuss that later. Right now, school." He touched Kotori's shoulder as he ushered the two girls out to the car. "We'll meet up again tomorrow morning to discuss things further."

XX

Nick pulled the car up to the front of the high school. Glancing in the back mirror he smiled at Kotori as she unbuckled her seatbelt. The corners of his eyes wrinkled from his smile. "Have fun at school, Kotori," he told her teasingly.

She frowned back at him in the rearview mirror, her cheeks darkening. Both girls were aware that he was making fun of them for still being in school. "It's high school. It's rarely fun, but I suppose I can try. The school could always suffer a gas leak and let us all out early or something."

Her response elicited a small laugh from Nick. Beth was undoing her seat belt as Kotori climbed out of the car. Nick reached across the front seat of the Buick to touch her hand. His eyes were open and friendly, but Beth could smell the fear on him. Decades of being a vampire had made him good at lying and covering up his true feelings with a flawless mask, but nothing could stop his hormones from producing the unique smell of fear Beth could pick up from his skin.

"Beth, I'd like to talk to you after school. After I pick you up, do you think we could go to get a bite to eat or a coffee or something?"

The young shifter blushed. She was unable to help it. The color stained her cheeks prettily, but it was out of fear. She could smell Nick's fear increase, mixed with worry. Beth didn't have his skill at hiding her expressions, but she knew her apprehension wasn't showing on her face. It was seeping through her skin by smell, just as Nick's was. Beth was afraid Nick was going to tell her he liked her, putting her on the spot and trying to figure out how to shoot him down gently. Worse, what if this was him subtly asking for a date?

"Please Beth?"

"Okay," she agreed, pulling her hand from his. The scent of his happiness flooded the car. Beth tried to ignore it.

Nicolas was smiling. "Don't look so worried, Beth. It's just going to be a nice little chat. I want to talk about…."

The bell of the school rang loudly as she jumped out of the car, desperate to get away. She didn't need to hear it. She couldn't stand to see Nick's smile. Beth didn't want to see how happy he was if she was going to have to hurt him that evening. "I've got to go!" Lugging her bag over her shoulder, she bolted for the school.

Boys were trouble. Beth didn't want anything to do with boys. They were complicated and time-consuming. Didn't people know the Apocalypse was coming? Daybreak did. But rather than get stronger and figure out a way to stop it, everyone was pairing up, trying to enjoy romance and their time together before the world ended. Beth failed to see how it was romantic scrambling to get to first base with the first boy who'd kiss you just because you were afraid you'd never get the chance to feel it otherwise. She was planning on doing all that after the Millenium, when she had all the time in the world… and only if she could find a boy mature enough.

XX

Their headquarters were an hour outside of town, in an older log cabin. The house belonged to the Noel family. It had become their headquarters as their cause had grown. Now the house held five: connected by growing bounds of friendship, diehard loyalty, desire, and their cause.

Emile Noel was the homeowner. Blonde and brown-eyed, the Native American blood which ran through her veins was impossible to see, diluted by the lamia French blood which marked her as Metis. She had been born during the Red River Rebellion and still clung to her culture. Blood had been shed in her childhood in order to protect it and she would honor her slain kin by following Metis life.

She had known all along that there were people in the world who believed as she did. It would only be a matter of time, she knew, until they could find one another. What she had not predicted was for one of the people she found to be her Soulmate.

She had found Mackenzie five years ago, wasting his life away in some minimum wage, dead end job. She had targeted him as prey, thinking that she would be putting him out of his misery. She knew she was attractive and it was easy to lure him out to a pub. There, she started talking to him, and found she couldn't kill him anymore.

His name was Mackenzie. He was half Native and half white. He hated whites. He hated them for breaking his mother. He hated them for putting him in an orphanage after his mother had died in childbirth. He hated them for not adopting him because his skin was too dark. He hated them for giving him failing grades no mater how well he did. He hated them for not hiring him at better jobs. He hated them for making booze jokes when they came to the gas bar where he worked or filled up their plastic gas canisters and asked if he wanted a sniff before guffawing loudly.

Then he'd apologized after his rant. He found her easy to talk to, it wasn't that he was crazy. He just wished that the tables were turned on them. He wanted them to know what it was like to be a laughing stock and a grunt. Emile had been pleased with him. "I'm descended from the French, you know," she had told him, offering him the final test.

"You're blonde. Your name is French. You're not white. You're not like them. If you were you wouldn't be here, talking to me. You'd never have asked me out for a coffee. When you asked," he had laughed warmly, "I thought maybe it was some kind o a trap. Now I realize I was wrong. You're like an angel."

A year later, despite going against Night World law, Emile changed Mackenzie. It was then she had discovered they were Soulmates. Mac did her proud as a vampire. He was a bit particular about his prey, feeding off of only white males, and he refused to subscribe to the caste system of the Night World. All his anger had condensed into one group: white males who preyed upon minorities. Emile had seen Mac pull off vampires from human women and shifters alike. He was quick and merciless with his kills and Emile loved it. The men he killed had not deserved mercy.

It was Mac who found the others. The first one he had brought home was King. Gawain King was a small, weak-looking Native American boy with horn-rimmed glasses which had once belonged to a middle-aged accountant. He had brought the young witch home when Gawain was only eleven and set him down in a guest bedroom. Then he had gone back out and did not return for two days. He snuck back in at night and had a shower. Emile had been able to smell the blood coming off of his clothes, bundled up in the corner of the washroom as they were. The blood smelled tainted.

When he had come back to bed Emile sat up, worried. "The boy-witch hasn't come out of his room. He hasn't eaten anything. I'm worried about him."

"He'll eat." Mac promised her. "Eventually, he'll eat."

Mackenzie had bribed the boy with books. He put them outside the door. They had disappeared by the evening. The next day it had been another book, sitting underneath a cellophane-wrapped peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It had disappeared again. The day after that it had been another book with a bowl of freshly cut fruit and a pitcher of water. It disappeared.

The next day Mackenzie had made Emile a lunch. She had raised an eyebrow but went along, enjoying the way Mac puttered about the kitchen, humming. She understood when they sat down to eat their hamburgers and side salad. The boy had slowly crept downstairs and joined them at the table. He ate in silence and then disappeared again. Mackenzie repeated it the following day. This time the boy had asked for seconds.

Gawain never spoke of how he had met Mackenzie. Mac had finally explained to Emile how he had found Gawain. He had been out hunting and had found a vampire trying to force himself on the little boy. Mac had rescued Gawain and brought him home. The boy had done nothing but he had been terrified that Mac was going to hurt him. Mac had simply dropped him off and then he went to stalk down his quarry. When it had been explained to her, Emile had been about to ask if Mac had found the other vampire, but she could still recall how long Mackenzie had been gone and the smell of the tainted blood. She didn't need to ask if Mac had found the pedophile.

Then there had been Zhi Niao. Mac had found her too. A beautiful Asian girl, she had been snuck over to Canada with her mother. Her father had already emigrated from China to establish a house and a job before bringing them over. Full of spunk and life, her attitude had gotten her into trouble with a local gang of vampires. They didn't like that Zhi Niao, a scavenger like Kotori, was consuming the leftovers of their kills. They had harried her, and slowly bred the hate into her. She hated anybody who looked down upon her as an animal and she dreamed of a time when shifters were in control again.

Trouble came when the vampires had gotten tired of the whole family: her parents, her big sister, and Zhi Niao. They had tried to set the house on fire with the family locked inside it. The family had gotten away and had moved to Vancouver Island. When she had graduated from high school, Zhi Niao had returned to the mainland to attend university. There she hunted in the woods to avoid the vampires, only to encounter Louis-Etienne.

A werewolf, Louis-Etienne was a dying breed. He was a burly man typical of the poster werewolf: ruled by instinct, an awesome fighter, and wild. He had been cowed when he had been beaten in battle by an eagle-shifter. When Zhi Niao had defeated him, she'd earned more than Louis-Etienne's steadfast loyalty. She had earned herself her own personal bodyguard.

Mac didn't know that when he found the two of them fighting one day. It was their own kind of foreplay as they fought, trying to outdo the other. Mac had bravely tried to pry the Caucasian man off of Zhi Niao as they grappled, only to be thrown into a dumpster by Zhi Niao as she defended the werewolf.

Eventually the situation had been resolved and soon the two shifters had come to live at the log cabin. More than once had Mac and Emile regretted that invitation, when they heard Louis-Etienne howling in the middle of sex, but the house felt safer with his presence there. Even little Gawain had started coming out of his shell more, feeling sheltered when Louis-Etienne's shaggy body slept at the foot of his bed during the full moon.

Their house full, Mac and Emile had revealed their plan. The end was coming and they were going to come out on top. It was not about race or caste strictly. It was about religion and family. They were going to resurrect the dragons. Once again, the shifters would be in power. They would never be called 'dumb animals' or 'puppy' or 'grunt' again. They would no longer be looked down upon. Once again, the Natives would have power. They would no longer be considered savages. They would no longer be considered wards of the state. The age of the totem would return.

XX

Mackenzie hopped down the stairs. Gawain sat on the floor in the living room, papers and fragments spread out around him. The slight boy was chewing on his bottom lip as he read over the papers. The horn-rimmed glasses enlarged his eyes comically. Gawain was a brilliant boy, and the collection of writings which consisted of Emile's life work on the sleeping dragons was Gawain's puzzle to solve.

"How's it going Gawain?" Mac asked, coming down from the kitchen in naught but a pair of jeans. His hair was wet from a shower. Dead or not, Mac was obsessed with showers. He wanted to wash away the blood and memories of his kills. Sometimes it took more than one shower to do the job. He hopped up on the couch in the living room to watch the boy. "Figured out why the shifters and stuff we took weren't able to do the job?"

"I… I think so." He picked up a piece of parchment carefully. "See, this one here says that we need the blood of the dragons to wake them up. I'm pretty sure that shape shifter blood will do the trick since they are the descendents of the dragons. Frankly Mac, if we have to cut open one of those sleeping dragons to wake them up, I don't want to be the witch doing the ceremony anymore. I'd like to live to see the end of puberty."

Mac smiled. "I can understand."

"Right. Well, this other document says that we need the blood of their enemy. So we started thinking that maybe this one was right while the other one was a red herring meant to throw us off, but we had less success with that ceremony than we did with the shifters. Well, I think I found the reason why. We need both blood."

"Both blood?"

Gawain nodded. "Yes. Both blood. The human blood is supposed to tell them that supper is here. The shifter blood is meant for something else, though I don't know what. See?" He stood up to stand in front of the vampire, gesturing to the tablet. "I know you can't read the runes, but it says here something along the lines of 'mingled blood'."

Taking the tablet, Mac studied the inscriptions. They looked like nothing but worm tracks to him, but he thought about Gawain's translation carefully. "Mingled blood, huh?"

"Yes."

He smiled and passed it back to the witch-boy. "I think you found the key, kid. We don't need two victims. We need one. We need them to come to our defense with an affront of nature, with the blood of their heritage and their food supply mingled in one host. We need a half-breed."

"A human-shifter half-breed?" Gawain looked dubious. "Don't people understand exactly how dangerous that match is? You're making someone who has the instinct to do nothing but kill and yet could potentially lack the ability to shapeshift."

"The council for a little while considered them perfect warriors because of that. There're rumors that the Viking berserkers were half bear-shifter, and that some of them had really gone a little psycho from never being able to complete the transition from human to bear."

"You're telling us we need a Viking?" Emile asked from the doorway, overhearing the entire conversation. Her blonde hair framed her face prettily. "Where are we ever going to find one of those in this age?"

Mac straightened and hurried to her, his hands on her hips as he whirled her about, kissing her cheek lovingly. "Not a Viking, my love. We just need a half-breed, and I know exactly where to find one." He smiled down at Emile. "My sister."


	4. Sunrise

**C h a p t e r T h r e e**

**S u n r i s e**

Lunchtime was Bethany's least favorite time of the day. The cafeteria was hot, and smelly, and gross and tightly packed. She felt trapped. Bethany hated feeling trapped more than anything. Her mother had learned quickly that Bethany could not stand to be in a closed room for very long. Even in the dead of winter—which in BC usually consisted of rain—she still had a window open to enjoy the refreshing breeze.

Add on to that another unappetizing cold cut sandwich and Beth was not a very happy person.

"Well, if it isn't the do-gooders," purred Michael Richmond, helping himself to an empty table at Kotori and Beth's table. The two lamias who were his best friend sat down next to him. At once the heat Beth felt in the crowded cafeteria melted away to be replaced with utter coldness. "Rumor has it in the Night World that your groups staged some kind of a dramatic capture of these shifter-killers and that it fizzled. Of course, I think I can understand why. Your team consists of a pansy, an incompetent leader, a stupid shifter, a stupid _teenage_ shifter, and a biological failure," he finished, his eyes landing on Bethany.

Kotori's hand clenched around her Gatorade. "Move along, Leech, or you're going to be in a world of trouble."

"Leave him alone, Kotori. Mike's not worth it."

"He doesn't have to be 'worth it' for me to break his wrist," she snarled.

Michael and his two friends laughed. They knew they were getting to the two shifters. With his flawless black skin and well-toned body, Michael was the object of desire for many girls in the class. What was the most horrendous thing was that Michael was nice to everyone… except to shifters. He was nice to the human girls and boys because he needed them in his pocket for feeding every day. He preferred the first, but if no girls were available, Michael had no trouble getting a boy alone. But the shifters were useless, particularly when they were Daybreakers.

"Actually, I'm glad you guys failed," he said smugly, helping himself to the remnants of Beth's ham sandwich. His smug smile vanished as he chewed on the meat. "God, how can you stand to eat this shit?" He threw it back into her lunchbox.

"Hm. The great Michael Richmond is glad that we failed to capture a dangerous and violent group of murderers. What about that situation doesn't surprise me?" Kotori's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Yes. I think that these guys have the right idea, killing off shifters. They're making the world a better place. They are making the world a _safer_ place by getting animals like you off the street."

Even Bethany let out a growl at his comments. The sound coming from _her_ took them a little by surprise, but it was Kotori who drew their attention. "Michael, have you ever had a nose job?"

"No, why…" SMACK!

Kotori's fist connected with his face. Michael's nose spurted blood and there was a surprisingly audible crunch sound before he fell back off the cafeteria bench. His two lamia friends paused, astounded, and then lunged for Kotori. Beth leapt on one of them, covering his eyes with her hands and holding on with her legs to keep one of them off of Kotori. Her weight knocked him down, but she didn't weigh enough to keep him pinned. As cheap as it was, Beth gave him a stern knock with her fist to the back of his head. His face smashed into the tile floor.

"Food fight!" someone yelled loudly. Sandwiches and French fries began to volley back and forth from rival tables, clear over the table where the three vampires and two shifters were fighting one another.

Michael grabbed Kotori's leg and pulled her down. Beth kicked his hand away, giving Kotori the chance to back away, but she was scooped up in a bear hug by the other vampire. He squeezed hard and Beth felt the air try to flee her lungs. Someone threw a bottle of Coke, the lid open. The sticky substance flew over Beth, spraying her hair and her white shirt. Beth punched the man in his belly, but it wasn't enough to let him go.

Kotori came to her aid, striking his kneecap. There was a loud crunch and he toppled. Kotori's actions were brutal, but she knew that he'd heal in no time at all. A teacher was straining through the food fight to reach their brawl. By the time she got there the broken kneecap would just be a sprain.

Beth landed on her knees and came back-to-back with Kotori as they faced Michael and the remaining lamia. Michael sneered. "Glad to see that you aren't pulling any punches."

"I only do that to people I like," Beth countered.

"Like Rappaport?" Michael laughed. "I've seen how you look at him. Wouldn't your parents be ashamed if they knew their precious students was causing fights at school when she wasn't Daybreaking and swooning over some Jewish vampire freak?"

Bethany was startled. Kotori liked Nicolas? But… Beth had always thought that she hated Nicolas! She waited for some kind of an explanation or a retort, but none came, not immediately. All Beth could smell from her friend was the anger which warmed her back. The actual scent of Kotori's anger was hidden by the overwhelming smell of Coca-Cola.

"You wouldn't dare tell my parents, Michael."

"Wouldn't I?"

"No, because if you do, I will be the last thing you will ever see, Michael."

"Stop this!" The teacher reached them before Michael and Kotori could attack. Covered in ketchup from the fight, the teacher was hardly a figure of authority, but her voice was another mater. "Detention hall, right this minute! NOW!"

* * *

"Where are Michael and his friends?" Beth whispered to her friend, leaning across the aisle between the desks.

Kotori frowned. "He probably hypnotized Principal Dean into letting him go," she said disdainfully.

"Ladies." Their principal looked up from where he sat at the desk at the front of the class. "No talking."

Both girls settled back into their desks, and continued a composition entitled 'why food fights are bad'. Bethany was shivering with cold from the goose bumps on her exposed skin. She had showered in the gyms in the cafeteria, and her clothes had been sacrificed into the bowels of her knapsack, clotted together with Coca Cola. She was wearing him gym shorts, which were a little too cold in the fall season. To make matters worse, the water from her long hair was soaking into her shirt. She could feel Kotori giving her pitiful expressions of concern, but the principal didn't seem to notice her shivering at all.

After half an hour, the principal needed to leave to attend to some school-related business. Kotori and Beth were left alone. Although they didn't try to escape from detention, their diligent work became lax and they resolved to talking. They could hear the principal returning down the hallway long before he would ever be able to hear them talking.

"Was Michael right, Kotori?" Beth asked gently, turning in her seat to face her friend. "Do you like Nicolas?" Kotori went bright red at the question. There was no look of anger on her face. It was just simple embarrassment. "But I thought that you hated Nicolas."

Kotori's voice was surprisingly tender as she answered. "I don't know if I could ever hate Nick. I think he's wonderful. He's intelligent and sensitive… but he's a vampire. And he's not Chinese. And he's Jewish. I mean, just about the only thing we have in common is being Daybreakers. My parents want me to marry some nice Buddhist, Chinese boy and have little Chinese children and name them after my parents or something like that. Can you imagine how dead I would be if I brought home Nick? One sight of his red hair, and my parents would lock me up and ship me off to Ottawa or something."

Beth didn't reply. She didn't know what to say. What could she say when she thought that Nick liked her? She was planning on shooting him down, yes, but she didn't want him to pick of Kotori as his rebound girl or something. That would hurt Kotori's feelings if she ever found out, and… Beth rubbed her head, teasing the roots of her still damp hair. With a heavy sigh, she decided she had to tell Kotori.

"Shh." Kotori quieted her and returned to her essay. "Someone's coming down the hallway."

Surprised when Nicolas opened the door instead of the principal, he held it open for them and winked. "I had a talk with your principal. He's now completely sure of your innocence in starting the fight in the cafeteria today."

"Nicolas Rappaport, did you use your telepathy to manipulate our principal?" Kotori demanded, rising from her seat with her hands on her hips.

He laughed. "Maybe."

"Daybreak would be ashamed of you!"

Nick was still smiling, his smirk looking quite becoming on his face. It wasn't prideful or smug, but full of wicked, boyish laughter. "Kotori," he said fondly, "even Daybreak has learned that sometimes you need to crack a few eggs. Besides, Daybreak will never hear about this, because you two were never in detention."

He shut the door behind them and escorted them out of the school to the car waiting for them in the parking lot. Although it was still early in the afternoon, the sun was already starting to decline. "What was the fight about, anyway?"

Kotori went red and failed to answer, so Beth took up the stand. She understood her friend's silence and failed to mention Michael's threats. "Some asshole vampire was ragging on us for being shifters. He said that the people we're trying to catch deserved to run free because they are taking care of the shifters, killing us off one by one like the animals that we were meant to be."

Their boss stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the two teenagers. His green eyes were wide in shock, but the teens could feel the anger and the hatred rolling off of him from his core. "Someone actually said that to you?" They both nodded, the half-human looking furious that she had once again been made fun off for her heritage, and the bird-shifter looking furious and ashamed that she had not been able to silence her foe in a more permanent manner. Nick seemed to agree with Kotori. "You'll have to tell me more about this boy in the car. If I ever meet him, I think I might bring him to have a little chat with Alicia. We'll see how much his song changes when she rips off his arms."

* * *

Nick dropped Kotori off first. Armed with a milk crate full of files and resources to sort through, she trooped inside her house, praying her mother wouldn't yell at her for being late.

Bethany's house, in contrast, was dark and quiet. It unsettled Beth. Eliza worked nights and afternoons, yes, but she was certain that Eliza started on the graveyard shift the following week. At the very least some of the lights should have been on.

"Do you think Kotori likes me?"

The vampire's question turned her thoughts away from the dark windows as she turned in her seat to stare at him in surprise. "What?"

"Kotori. I thought that maybe she might have told you if she had a crush on me or something since she's your best friend." His cheeks were pink. It looked silly clashed against his red hair. "I feel so completely and utterly unprofessional and immature asking you this way, but I've tried figure out a billion different ways of asking and I don't like any of them."

"Well, I… I mean, we're best friends but…" Beth stumbled over words, flustered. She didn't know what to say. She knew the answer, but did she tell Nick yes or lie? Instead she settled on interrogation. When faced with a question you don't want to answer, she had learned the best counter was another question. "Why do you even want to know? She's not going to get in trouble from Daybreak or something if she _has_ developed a crush on you, is she?"

Laughing, he unbuckled his seatbelt to face her completely, leaning his head against the foggy car window. "Of course she isn't. It's none of Daybreak's damn business who I like or who she likes, so long as it doesn't clash or make the team fall apart or anything. And that's what worries me, Beth. I'm afraid that if I come right out and tell her that I like her that she'll shoot me down."

Beth pursed her lips. "Why would she do that? It's not like you've given her a reason not to like her."

He squirmed uncomfortably. Normally in control or laughing with an ability to find the humorous silver lining which Beth envied, squirming didn't suit him. He avoided her gaze, staring at the gear shift between them. He didn't look entire sure he hadn't given Kotori a reason not to like him. "What about just the age difference? I was still older than Kotori when her parents were born."

She held up her hands. "Don't look at me to explain _that_ one to you, Nick. Sure, when you actually _think_ about it, it is a little creepy. But that's what happens when you date a vampire. Maybe Kotori will be one of the people who can get over the age gap. Then again, maybe she isn't. Maybe she's an old soul. Maybe she's willing to become a vampire to be with you. Maybe you two won't work out. Maybe she'll date you and then break your heart, or maybe you'll break hers and then I'm going to have to chase you down to the ends of the earth in recompense. I don't know. Kotori is my best friend, but that doesn't mean I can predict the future."

At first he looked disappointed, but by the end Nicolas had perked up a little. "You're right, Beth. I'm sorry that I put you in this position. I'm over four decades old and I'm still nervous about talking with girls I like."

"Is that why you always greet me first?" she asked, finally making sense of his attitude.

Nicolas nodded. "Yes. You're my friend, and I feel relaxed around you. I don't have to be nervous." He leaned over in the car and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, rubbing his knuckles into her hair and tousling it up. "You're like the little sister of the group, Beth. We all have to take care of you and watch out for you because you're the shortest, and the youngest and…"

Instantly, when he saw the shadows of pain and misery casting over her face, he stopped. Her face was smooth and pale, still tanned warmly, but all the life had flooded out of it. Her green eyes were dead in her becoming, human face. She had misinterpreted his words, and yet, when he reflected back on what he had said, underneath it all he had spoken them because of the same conclusion she had reached.

"You all have to look after me because I'm human. Because I'm the only one incapable of properly defending myself."

"No," he sighed, "no, Beth…"

"Yes." She was soft spoken and stern all at the same time. Nick's arm slipped from around her shoulders. He felt uneasy touching her. "Don't lie to me, Nicolas. I have a bit of speed. I have a lot of strength, more than a girl my size should have. I have better senses, but that's it. I can't change my shape. My body tells me to fight out of instinct, but it never wants to move the way it wants to. It's never _able _to move the way the instincts tell it to."

"Look," he sapped impatiently, "you're a valuable member of this team! So what if you can't shapeshift? You're still one the most important members we have! You're learning how to fight all over again, we're training you how to fight in this body. Who cares if you don't have telepathy or if you aren't as fast as Kotori or as strong as Alicia? They aren't _you_. Do you know what I think that you have more than they do?"

Her eyes were wet with tears. Nicolas wondered if other boys knew how pretty she looked when she cried. Her skin was too dark to go all splotchy, but the tip of her slim nose did turn the slightest shade of pink, and her eyes darkened to the color of evergreens, glowing deeply with her tears. He swore that if other boys found out and tried to make her cry, he'd break their legs. "What do you think, Nic?" she asked.

"I think that you're braver than the rest of the team put together."

"You do?"

"Yes, I do. Let's see Alicia walk into a gang of vampires and know that she couldn't change her shape. Let's see me take on a fully grown vampire knowing that he weighed more, was stronger, and faster. Let's see Kotori do that. Let's see Roger take someone on knowing that he'd used up all of his arcane power for the day. None of us ever have, and none of us might ever, but you face it all the time, and you do it all without batting an eyelash. I think we could be a more effective group if we all learned to be as brave as you are."

He pretended not to notice how her scent changed. She felt guilty about something. He didn't want to ruin the moment by prying. Beth was coming around to her senses and he didn't want to lose her. "Come on. I bet that you've got homework you want to get done, and I have lots of extracurricular work for you to do." He gestured to the back seat floor. "Kotori only got one crate. Because it was your idea, you get two of them. I'll grab one and you'll grab the other."

Each armed with a crate of court cases, they marched to the house. Beth struggled at the door for a moment, pulling her keys from her fall coat pocket to open the door while juggling the milk crate and her backpack. The door sung open and she lumbered inside, heading straight for the kitchen. There were no lights on, casting everything in shades of grey and pastels.

"Mom! Are you home?"

"Beth?"

She turned to see Nick standing at the base of the stairs, the crate still in his hands. His eyes reflected silver in the quickly fading light and his eyeteeth had extent, brushing his bottom lip. When he was a vampire was the only time that Nick didn't remind Beth of a child trapped in a young man's body. When the façade slipped to reveal the vampire underneath, she was reminded that Nick had the same animal instincts she did.

"I smell blood."

Her hands began shaking with worry. Beth set down the crate where she stood, rushing to the bottom of the stairs. Nick was right. There was blood. It was faint, but it was there. Trust the _vampire_ to have sensed blood. They were better than a shark sometimes. "Mom!?"

The attack happened so fast that Beth had trouble registering what had happened. There was a sudden movement from behind Nick. There had been nothing there a moment ago and then a large man had appeared, clubbing Nick down with several blows to the back of his head. Beth whirled when she heard the strike and was about to leap down the stairs to defend Nick, but stopped when a hand grabbed her neck and shoved her into the wall. She coughed and struggled to breath from the grip around her throat, struggling harder when she looked up to an all-too familiar face.

"I don't believe we've been introduced," the vampire said. "The name is Mackenzie. Your name is Beth." He held up her diary. "I've learned quite a lot about you, Bethany. You can either come peacefully, or you can fight."

She tried to kick him. The wall pulled away and he threw her down the stairs. She felt each step she hit, the impact bruising her body. Everything was dizzy. Her head hurt. She had landed on top of something soft and warm at the bottom of the stairs. She could smell blood, and it was familiar. She could smell Nick's blood. Just how hard had they been striking him? Everything was fading to black, but the hearing was the last to go.

"Stupid Daybreakers," Mac sneered. "They always put up a fight at the wrong time. We have the girl. Let's go, Etienne."

"What about the witch and the vampire? The vampire's pretty useless, but can't we at least take the witch? Zhi Niao hasn't been eating as much as I'd like. Me bringing her back a kill I'd be forcing her to eat."

"I don't think so, Etienne. We only came for the girl. Let's get her in the car."

Bethany felt arms wrapped around her, and then there was nothing.

* * *

To be continued...


	5. Rising

**C h a p t e r F o u r**

**R i s i n g**

When she woke up, it was still dark. She could see nothing, which caused her to think that she was underground or something. Her eyes were like a cat's: wherever there was light Beth could see. Her eyes retracted the light so that it magnified, but there was no light. She sniffed. It smelled damp. Her skin was still cold. She wasn't wearing her jacket and scarf anymore. Her body was sore. She could feel that her bruises hadn't mended yet. Beth was just glad that her bones hadn't been broken.

She was gagged. It made it a little hard to swallow. Her lips were dry and cracked. She struggled, feeling the extent of her bondage. She was tied to a chair, her legs tied to the chair legs and her arms tied behind the back. She struggled against them. If they thought that she was human, then maybe they had been lax with the knots and she could strain the ropes to breaking point.

She stopped immediately when she heard something metal clank in the darkness. Twisting her shoulders to bring her wrists together, she cursed vibrantly in her mind. They weren't ropes. Ropes bound her torso to the chair and her arms to her torso, but they had included handcuffs. Even if she could untangle herself from the chair, she was still bound by the handcuffs, and she knew immediately what they had been coated with. Silver.

Like werewolves of legend, silver would hurt or kill shapeshifters. A silver bullet to the chest would kill Beth, and a silver bullet to a limb would eventually heal, but it would be incredibly painful while doing so. It was poisonous to shifters, the same way that wood was poisonous to vampires. Beth was human enough to sustain prolonged contact with silver—maybe a three or four hours at most—but then it would start to itch and burn. If they intended to leave her in the basement for a day or too, eventually it would start to blister. The contact wouldn't kill her, but it would be torture.

She began to struggle out of the chair again. Maybe she could still escape if she wasn't tied down. She just wanted the handcuffs off. She let out a muffled scream when her struggling tipped the chair over. There was a loud crack. Beth wondered if maybe her arm was broken from the chair landing on it. Maybe she was in shock…

"I think you should go check on her, Mac," said a feminine voice. The ceiling above Beth creaked as people walked around.

"Yeah, I'm going."

The floorboards creaked again. The sound was drawing closer. Bethany poured everything she had into a last, final ditch effort to free herself from her bonds. Her shoulder trapped under the chair was screaming in agony, and her pain proved fruitless. A door opened above her, blinding sensitive eyes temporarily, and then closed. The footsteps walked down the stairs. Her nose wiggled erratically as she tried to fight through the smell of the dampness to get their scent and determine who it was. She already knew though.

Mackenzie, her brother. He turned on a light behind her, and the light revealed that she was indeed in a basement. There were boxes stacked around her. She was amused to see that some of them were marked 'Christmas decorations', but at the same time it was disturbing. Was this really his house, or had he simply taken it over from some nice, sweet human family?

Strong hands gripped the chair and set her back up. They gently probed her shoulder, making her grumble, and then his voice said, "It doesn't seem to be broken, just deeply bruised. You're going to have one hell of a mark there tomorrow morning."

His fingers lifted the hem of her sleeve to see if there was a bruise forming there already. Beth was terrified. She had thought she hadn't had a problem with vampires, but this was proving her very wrong. She didn't know if he was going to bite her, or even just toy with her and make her think he was. Nick's words ran through her mind and she held her chin higher, wanting to be brave for him even when he wasn't around. She was brave. She had her mother's brave genes coursing through the fiber of her being, the blood of people who continued to be brave despite adversity!

"I'm going to take your gag off right now so we can talk. If you want to scream, I'm going to have to put it back on, okay?" She nodded hurriedly, desperate to get the foul-tasting gag out of her mouth. His hands gently lifted her hair away to undo the knot. As it slipped free, he walked around and squatted in front of her.

The light cast half of his face into shadows, but it gave Beth a chance to study him earnestly. He was a nice looking boy. His skin was the same shade of hers, his face shape square while hers was more heart-shaped. He was young, too. She knew that he was young, only a few years older than she was, but she hadn't expected him to _look_ young. When Beth looked at Nick, she could see under his skin to the wise and learned part underneath him. Mackenzie lacked that part because he was still fresh. He didn't seem as cold-hearted as she thought a killer should be.

"We're going to kill you," he said simply. Beth stiffened. "Nothing you can say or do can save you from that fate. We thought, however, the group of us, that the people we kill at least have a right to know what it is they're dying for. I can't tell you how many times I sat here like this breaking the rules of the Night World and telling them all about our past. Some of them would then start to scream about how it wasn't true, and we'd have to prove it to them. We don't have to do that with you. You know about the Night World. You know what I am, and what you are, and if you're smart, you'll also know that the world is ending at the Millenium."

"Pardon me for still having trouble believing that you read my diary," she bitterly spat out, glaring at him.

He smiled. "I'm actually sad to find out that I have a half-sister. Your mother was raped too, right?"

"My birth mother was, not the woman who raised me. Mom told me everything. My birth mother didn't want me to live. She said I was an abomination."

Mackenzie nodded understandingly. "My mother died during childbirth. I lived in an orphanage until I was old enough to break out. You were lucky to have had a family, Bethany."

She shuddered. "Don't use my full name. Nobody uses my full name. Call me Beth. If you're that adamant about killing me, the least you could do is not use psychological warfare on me beforehand." Beth forced herself to laugh weakly at her ill-timed joke.

Mac didn't laugh. "Beth. I am sorry about this. I don't want to do it. I wish that we could team up. I wish I could help you find your unique place in the world and to fight off boys who like you and read your diary more often." He smiled, but it was sad. The sadness even reached his eyes, and he leaned forward to brush Bethany's cheek. "I don't want to do this, not to you. It's not fair. I love the people here, but no one here is quite like me, except for you. I finally have someone I can call family, even if they are related to me by the part of my past that I detest more than anything, and you turn out to be the key to everything."

His fingers were soft. Beth's heart pounded in her chest. Was Mac trying to be this charismatic for her? Whether it was his personality or on purpose, it was working. Mackenzie was someone she could have called family; that she could have grown to love and play with and grow up with, but they were on two separate sides. It wasn't fair, but when had life ever been fair to them?

"What exactly am I the key to?" she asked quietly.

"The dragons."

Her jaw dropped. "You… you want to wake them up, don't you?"

"Yes. We've figured out where they are buried. We have the spells needed to undo what Hellewise did all those centuries ago. The only problem was that we lacked the ingredients. We tried a lot of things. We needed…"

"You needed blood. All those people we've been finding, you tried to bleed them for the spell."

"Yes," he nodded, almost imperceptibly. "But the blood was never right. The spell never worked. We tried different shifters, different sexes, different castes, different races… and then we found you. We knew what we needed all along now. No one blood could wake them. They needed what they would have considered to be an abomination. They needed the blood, in one body mingled, of their worshippers, their killers, their children, and their food. They needed someone who was part Native, part white like Hellewise, part dragon, and part human."

"But why in the world would anybody want to bring back the _dragons_!? They were put away for a reason!"

"Yes, and our people have suffered for it. Had the dragons still been awake here, they might have been able to save off the advance of European colonization. Had our dragons been awake, we might have been able to defend ourselves, and protect women like our mothers who were raped by white men. Had our dragons been awake, the shape shifters may still rule in North America, the way they did long ago. North America was supposed to be our island, our haven, and yet Hellewise's spell was strong enough to send them to sleep even here. The Totem slowly faded, their power seeped out of the land, and we became a weak nation, barely clinging to what little stories we have left. Now it is time to bring back our nation. Now it is time to resurrect the Totem. We will be strong again."

"But they're the dragons! They're just as likely to eat you as they are to help you!"

"It's a risk I am willing to take. The vampires or the witches or the humans may take the rest of the world, but North America will once again be our haven. I'm surprised with your past that you do not see the logic involved. Surely you must hate our father as much as I."

Beth nodded. Very few people knew the anger and hate she harbored for the man she had never even met. She buried it deeply, but it was still present, an ingrained part of her. "I hate him," she admitted, "but that doesn't mean I hate everyone like him. I've met some human men who were quite nice! We should all be able to live together in harmony!"

"I _am _suggesting harmony," he hissed, though it was out of forcefulness and not out of anger. "Do you really think that Daybreak will be able to keep the different castes from fighting amongst each other? They need to be led by someone they fear and respect. The dragons are perfect for that. Besides, Daybreak is led by vampires and witches. It won't end the bigotry that sees shape shifters like you as something… vile and base. Our way of life was built upon the ideas of animals that cared for us, fed us, protected us, loved us, guided us, and now we're told that they're wrong. That you, who once would have been revered for your abilities, are something disposable of. I want harmony as much as you do, but it is our time to recover our lost ways. Let us get the respect we deserve!"

He settled then, taking in a few deep breaths and calming himself. "There's nothing you can do to talk us out of it. We'll be leaving tomorrow morning. The cuffs shouldn't hurt you. After that, we'll be traveling. We'll loosen the bonds if you agree not to try and run away. If you do, we'll put them on again and they won't be loosened or removed again. Understand?"

Beth nodded. Mac rose, dusting off his clothes and self-consciously fixing his hair. "We'll send down Niao with some food for you. You'll get breakfast on the road tomorrow. Oh, and don't let Louis-Etienne scare you. He sounds mean and gruff, but he's really a big softie under it all."

"I'll do my best," she bitterly promised.

Mac smiled at her. There was a surprising amount of fondness to it. "I really am sorry about this, Beth."

"Don't apologize. First you have to get away with it. My friends will save me."

"I'm sure they will," he replied. He didn't sound like he believed it at all.

Frankly, Beth didn't either, but it felt good to say it.

* * *

They headed out the following morning. Beth didn't know where they were going. They drove all day, alternating the driver as people became tired. Beth spent the whole day in the back seat, bound behind two seats. True to her word, she didn't try to escape. She sat and talked and listened, learning who they were and the stories that had helped to shape them.

All of them had some excuse for wanting to do it. The blonde woman, Emile, she wanted to bring back the old traditions. Gawain wanted revenge on the people who had hurt him. Louis-Etienne wanted his children to grow up in a world where they weren't shunned and pushed into the wilderness by senseless fear and hate. Zhi Niao (who had been in disguise as a prostitute that day just as Beth was and actually was in University) wanted the shifters to be in power again so that she and her family could never be pushed out of their homes again. And Mac, Mac wanted what they wanted combined.

What made it difficult after learning their stories was that Beth had to admit they were justified in wanting the dragons to return. They weren't doing it out of power-hungry mongering or insanity. They were doing it out of real problems and real emotions. These people, she felt, had a right to want to protect themselves and their families. She only wished she didn't have to die to help their cause… and she wished they were trying to put the shifters in power without having to bring back the dragons.

They stopped in a wooded area and camped for the night. Beth had no thoughts of running away as Louis-Etienne slept beside her with his head on her waist, ready to bite and grab if she moved too much during the night.

They morning after that, they started hiking. They hiked steadily up a hill, up a traveled path disguised by the trees and ferns blocking the way. It was well-hidden. Slowly, the trees grew larger. The redwoods began to appear. The wind began getting colder. Now and then the trees parted enough for Beth to see the horizon. The snow-capped tops of the Rocky Mountains loomed above her, very close. And the group still persisted up.

For three days they traveled steadily up. Beth quickly began to lack the energy to run away. Her legs burned. She was fit, but she wasn't used to the steady trek the others had started. She gained a new appreciation for them. Mackenzie, Louis-Etienne, and Zhi Niao Beth had known would be able to make the journey. They had stamina and fitness. She had not been expecting the lamia girl and the witch to make it without breaking a sweat. By the third day, on the last leg of the journey, the werewolf was carrying Bethany, letting her feet rest before putting her down again and taking a break himself. She felt weak and silly.

"You're doing fine," the Chinese shifter encouraged her. "The last few we took up had to be carried from day one. You've impressed us."

"You're still going to kill me," she bitterly countered.

Zhi Niao smiled. "Everyone dies sometime. Your death will help to free us. You'll be a heroine."

"Do you dispose of all your heroines in dumpsters in seedy areas of towns?" The cute girl didn't have an answer and turned away, ashamed. After a moment she glanced back at the werewolf and nodded to him. Then she hurried ahead to talk beside Emile. She didn't want to be around Beth anymore.

Finally, they stopped. A cave opened in front of them. They camped outside of it, waiting for dawn. Beth slept fretfully that night.

Tomorrow morning, she was going to die.

* * *

There was an echo in the cave. The echo was Beth's first clue was to how large the cave was. Even with the torch Gawain carried, the rest of the group perfectly able to see in the dark, her vision only extended so far. She could see the ceiling above them and the floor, but ahead of her, past Mac as he led the group, there was nothing but darkness.

Walking became monotonous. It didn't seem like very long, but it also seemed to take forever. Every few seconds Beth would think that the tunnels they occasionally cleared would fill up with Nick and the Daybreakers, there to rescue her. But as they kept walking and no attack came, her despair kept becoming deeper and deeper.

Finally they stopped walking. Louis-Etienne held her arm to keep her from escaping. His grip was tight, but not uncomfortable. She debated kicking him and running away, but she didn't think she would be able to find her way back out of the mountain. They had taken several twists and turns. As strange as it was, Beth wasn't frightened of the pressing darkness and the scent of the earth and rocks around her. It felt strangely comfortable.

Mac flipped a bic. A small amount of light filled the room, barely enough to light the contours of Gawain's face as he used it to light candles. He kept lighting candles, passing them off to Emile and Zhi Niao to place around Bethany in a circle. Slowly but steadily the light began to grow. When the last candle was lit and placed down, closing the circle of flames, Bethany found herself staring at the closed eye of a dragon.

A scream escaped her. She couldn't help it. The pupil of the eye was as big as her head. It was pure gold, shaped like a cat's, and the scaly flesh which surrounded it was emerald green in hue, the scales mottled with khaki green and a lighter shade for camouflage. And the eye was open, staring at her, covered over by a milky-white film like that of a snake.

They were in a ledge in a monstrous cavern in the heart of the mountain range. The dragons lay below them. Peering through the darkness, Beth could make out humps of flesh a slightly different shade than the rest of the darkness. There were so many of them! Who had ever thought that there were so many!

The dragon in front of them sighed loudly. The sound made the loose pebbles on the floor of the ledge bounce. Beth clawed Louis-Etienne, ready to scale his body for safety when a jet of hot steam appeared from the dragon's nose, drifting up by them. It reminded Beth of pictures she had seen of Yellowstone.

"Gawain, start the ceremony."

The little boy pulled out a scroll from the bag on his back. Beth corrected herself. Gawain was the same age she was; he wasn't a little boy, just as she wasn't a little girl. He threw the knapsack against the wall behind him and then pulled off his jacket, adding it to the pile. Then he took off his shirt. When he began to unbuckle his pants, Beth quickly looked away.

When he was naked, the witch began to read from the scroll. The incantations sounded strange to Beth. She wasn't paying attention to anything else until Louis' hand moved to the hem of her gym shirt. He was trying to take it off. She spun on him, slapping his hand away. "Stop it."

Louis-Etienne snarled at her. "Everyone's doing it. It's part of the ceremony."

"I don't care. I'm not going to let you strip me."

Mackenzie stepped over the candles into the circle. Beth's cheeks burned from her blush when she saw that he was naked. Mac was lithely muscled, and Bethany could see why Emile found him so attractive. He took good care of himself. She adverted her eyes before they could see anything lower than his shoulders. It meant that she missed seeing the weapon he held loosely by his side. "Does that mean you're going to undress yourself, Beth?"

"No! I… I… Arg!" Beth didn't need to explain herself. She spun back on Louis-Etienne, planning on bull-rushing him into the candles. She'd prefer trying to find her way out of the mountain and being lost in darkness than stripping and letting herself before humiliated before they killed her. It was obvious now that Daybreak wasn't going to come to save her. Maybe they didn't even know where she was. What if Nick and Eliza were dead and no one even knew she was missing!?

No. She had played along willingly because she knew she still had a chance of getting away. This was her last chance. She'd lose them in the mountains. She wasn't going to be a nice little hostage anymore.

Beth kicked the werewolf as hard as she could. It did little damage, but it did keep him from reaching out to grab her. She didn't count on Mackenzie predicting her actions or being so fast. He grabbed her long black hair and pulled on it so hard Beth fell flat on her back inside the circle. She tried to strike and kick Mac off of her, but couldn't. Louis-Etienne grabbed her hands and held her down. Emile kept her legs from kicking. Then she saw the knife Mackenzie was holding. He grabbed her shirt and cut it with her knife. Bethany's eyes leaked tears. She tried screaming, but Zhi Niao put her hand over her mouth, keeping her terror locked inside.

She didn't know what was worse: the cold air assaulting her as she shorts, bra, and underwear fell away, or the way the eyes of captors were scared. She had been worried about the wolf. She had been worried that he'd be staring at her like a piece of meat, but he had eyes only for Zhi Niao. Instead, the burly werewolf actually looked sad.

"It will all be all over soon," he promised her.

Mac straightened and held the knife out to Gawain. "Finish it."

The witch shook his head. He couldn't stand to look at them as they held Bethany down. There was a surprising amount of venom in his voice. "She's your sister, Mac. You do it."

Instantly the vampire's face paled. He had not apparently been expecting this dissention. His eyes went from Gawain, then the eye of the sleeping dragon, and then to Emile. Whatever the lamia beauty thought of the situation, Beth couldn't tell. Her face held secrets only for Mackenzie. The vampire's grip on the knife became white-knuckled. "Fine."

He looked down at her. Tenderly, he dried her cheeks of her tears. Beth still struggled, but it was futile. Mackenzie leaned over, brushing dirt from her dark hair as he kissed her forehead. "Goodbye, Bethy."

Then it washed over her. She knew exactly what it was, but there was no way to fight against it. Telepathy. She had always been susceptible to it. She had never been able to use it. Mackenzie's thoughts easily slipped past her own. Bethany felt her connection to her body lessen. She felt strangely floaty, and happy. Languid, yes, languid. It was warm and comfy in her body, and yet she felt as if she were floating outside of it. She couldn't feel her body anymore, just warmth. She couldn't feel the hands holding her down anymore.

"You can let go. She's subdued. The least I can do is keep her from feeling it." He took her hand in his, and he cut her wrist with the knife.

Beth stared at the way her blood, black in the dim light of the cavern, began to run down from the cut. He took the other hand and did the same. Beth couldn't feel it. It was as if it was being done to someone else. She watched the blood leak and pour from her wrists, and to the ground, and trickle slowly over the rocky ground, to the dragons down below.

Beth's world was going black slowly. She didn't like it. She was tired of the darkness. She wanted to revel in the light. She tried to push back into her body, wanting to dance and laugh and sing. She knew she couldn't do any of that where she was going. Glancing around, she saw the milky-white film of the dragon's eyes pull back. It blinked, and it looked right at her. She had never seen such a deep shade of gold before. It was a beautiful color, so bright that they glowed in the darkness like a sun. Beth wanted to go there, to that place, where it was bright…

How could something so beautiful be so deadly?

She felt herself falling into that beautiful eye, such an amazing shade of gold, felt the warmth and caring, and then she felt nothing at all.

* * *

To be continued... 


	6. Morning

**C h a p t e r F i v e**

**M o r n i n g**

"Will it kill her?" Zhi Niao asked, watching the bloods twist and turn on the ground, running towards the edge of the cliff. Beth was a nice girl, and Zhi Niao didn't want to see her die. She was hoping that maybe Beth would survive. They didn't know how much blood was needed. Maybe they didn't need to bleed her dry.

Mac tried to make his voice sound indifferent. "I don't know. The blade is stone, not silver. In theory, she may be able to clot the wound closed, but then again, it's entirely possible she may bleed out before they close."

"Look!" Emile grabbed Mac, hugging him tightly from behind in a hug. She pointed over his shoulder at the green dragon in front of them. "The eye! It's…!"

The dragon cut her off. Large, bat-like wings opened and the dragon roared, stretching. The sound was so loud that the Night Worlders had to cover their ears. Rocks and loose dirt fell from the ceiling. Beside the green dragon, another head lifted, the mouth opening in a large yawn. Its large tongue was visible, but the sight of the large appendage was overshadowed by the large teeth surrounding it. Their large nostrils moved as they sniffed, and a low growl filled the cavern.

The first dragon, the green one, reached out a clawed hand. It landed on the ledge so hard that some of the candles fell over.

"It's interrupted the ceremony!" Gawain cried to the others over the sound of the creature's breathing. "Someone stop Beth's bleeding and someone fix those candles! The other dragons won't wake up until the ceremonial circle is fixed!"

Louis-Etienne went for the candles. He stopped and moved back when the dragon's long nose came down. The dragon sniffed Bethany's body. It opened it's mouth and the large tongue came out, the tip lapping at her blood on the ground. It made an inquisitive sound and tilted its head, eyeing the girl. The werewolf stood frozen until the dragon had moved away.

Zhi Niao went to apply pressure to Beth's wrists to staunch the bleeding until the circle was fixed. The green dragon growled when she knelt by Beth, but the voice that rang through her head was feminine. It was so loud that Zhi Niao felt blood run down from her nose. **_Do not touch the strange one._**

**_She smells… odd,_** the green dragon said. Holding his head high, he turned to the other dragon, large, lizard-like lips drawing back in an undisguised snarl. **_Why are you here?_**

Mackenzie stepped forward. He stopped when he realized that the question had been posed to the other dragon and not to them. The female red dragon spun, growling at the male. Her whole body drew down in a posed crouch, ready to strike at the green dragon's softer, yellow-colored throat. **_I do not know! I was flying, and then there were dreams! I do not know how long I dreamed, but I then awoke, the same as you, to find these things here calling us!_**

Emile rushed around her Soulmate. Her head hurt from their voices. "Please, dragons!" she shouted up at them, "We wish to speak with you! Could you perhaps change shape and joins us here? It's hard to speak with you when you're so high above us!"

_**You dare **order **us to change?**_ the red one demanded, snapping her jaws.

"No. I'm asking you to sit and listen and to allow us to see to our friend. She was the key to your revival and if she dies we may not be able to reawaken more of you."

The green dragon nodded and the female hissed. When he let out a growl, the red dragon submitted, afraid of the dragon's wrath. Both dragons began to change. In a matter of seconds, two naked humanoids had joined them on the ledge. The male was broad-shouldered and smoothly muscled, with a tapered waist that even Emile envied. Stoic and his chin held proudly, ebony black hair fell just past his shoulders, and his eyes were surprisingly dark and soulful. Emile noted carefully that his gaze seemed locked on Bethany as Zhi Niao cared for her. If ever there was a man that was the model for the brave, strong Native warrior, it was, Emile thought, the green dragon.

The woman had the same proud hold of her head, and her face was heart-shaped, not unlike Beth's. Her long, dark hair fell straight to the small of her back, and moved like a cape as she moved. Her lips were set into a tight line as she stared at Mac and Emile, but her eyes were much colder than the other dragon's.

"Explain what happened to us."

Emile's voice was patient and gentle. "You may want to sit down."

They explained everything. The dragons listened patiently as the vampires told them how the witches put all the dragons asleep, save one, and she became the royal line of the shapeshifters. They explained how the witches and the vampires had come to power. They explained how North America had been conquered, how the Metis started, and how the reserves came to exist, the people the dragons had sworn to protect in turn for fealty living in half-condemned housing. Lastly, they told the dragons of their plain, of their desire to reinstate the shifters into power, to once again make North America their "Haven".

When they finished, the female dragon exploded. "Unacceptable! If we were put asleep, where were you then? Why did we sleep for so long? We are like deities, not some parent you may console and cry to when something does not go your way! You can not discard us and complain to us when it suits you!"

"Calm down, Fala," the green dragon said sternly. He finally pulled his eyes away from Beth and fixed the other dragon with a stern stare. "They are talking about reinstating our worship. We would gorge ourselves on the flesh of their sacrifices and become strong again. I do not wish my people to suffer. They need me, and I will answer their calls gladly. Those who still turn their backs on me will pay for their insolence with their lives, and the blood of the unbelievers will sway the others."

He nodded to Mac, acknowledging him as their leader. "You have discovered the way to awaken us. I would like to make an arrangement with you. Do not wake the others yet. We would only fight amongst ourselves. We will secure the area from the mountains to the ocean first. Fala and I will regain our strength. Then we will wake the others, and they will have to follow our decree."

"We can make that promise," Mack swore, bowing his head back. The dragon smiled for a moment. He had a nice smile.

"Now, Fala and I must feed."

"I demand the abomination!" she hissed, pointing to Beth. "Her very existence is unnatural! I refuse to accept that she somehow fits into my bloodline." The woman stood gracefully and began advancing towards Beth.

The green dragon leapt up and grabbed her arm. "You will do no such thing! First of all, the vampire named Mackenzie has already indicated we need her to wake our other kin. Secondly, she may have the blood of humans in her veins, she may even be more human than dragon, but she is still of our kin and of our people. We will give her the same protection we would give any other people in this room. Can you not smell? They bled her deeply to revive us. She has been hurt enough this morning. She will not be hurt again."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Sleep had changed you. It has made you weak-hearted. Times have not changed my laws, the laws of _my_ kin. Would you suffer the offspring of a human and a cow to live? Abomination, I say!"

"I will not allow her to be hurt for her heritage. Those were your laws, Fala, not mine. The people I protect would have seen her as blessed and given her a place of honor. She would have become a liaison between the world of her people and the world of mine."

"Your ways are weak!" Fala spat, pulling her arm back.

"_We will_ accept her, Fala. Surely we _dragons_, Fala, are better than these humans who prey upon things different than they, or the witches who put us to sleep. Or has your heart, while you slept, become too human and too full of hate to see past what lies on the outside?"

Fala whirled on him, snarling and glaring. The green dragon did not bat eye, and slowly, Fala straightened, wiping the snarl from her beautiful face. "Wolf," she commanded, looking at Louis-Etienne. "You are a cavern dweller. You know the way out. Show me. I need to hunt."

Louis-Etienne did not look pleased in the slightest. Neither did Zhi Niao, if the frown on her face was to be judged. The two of them glanced at one another and then Louis-Etienne bowed his head, leading the dragon through the darkness.

When they were out of ear shot, the male dragon turned to Mackenzie and Emile. "I apologize for Fala. She and I, and our clans, have never seen eye to eye. I fear she may return for the girl. Unless you have any complaints, I should like to take her with me. If Fala does try anything, I will be better prepared to protect the girl."

Mackenzie thought about it. He had to admit, however grudgingly, that the male dragon was in a better position to protect Beth. Even tired and hungry and newly awoken, he had the size to take on Fala. Mac knew that if he tried to fight the dragon, someone from his team wouldn't make it through the battle. But he was also cautious. He didn't know anything about this dragon. He didn't know if he'd try to take advantage of Bethany, and Beth wasn't in a position to defend herself.

Against everything inside of him, he felt a swell of desire to protect his younger sister. He was glad that she had survived the process. The last thing he wanted was to cause her more harm.

He took Emile's hand and squeezed it. The slight touch made everything go a little hazy and pink, and he could feel that she had the same thoughts he did. She acknowledged the dragon was a superior fighter, but worried about Beth's welfare. He released her hand when he nodded to the dragon.

"She is our captive. We took her from her house and brought her here. She may try to run away. See that she doesn't, but also, don't hurt her."

The dragon nodded. "Do not worry, Mackenzie. I will see to it that no harm shall come to her." Zhi Niao stood up as he bent to pick up Beth. The girl seemed younger than ever in his arms. The man holding her seemed to be in his late twenties, while the girl he held had just hit the cusp of puberty. He stared down at her, his face softening for a moment before returning to the expression of pride Zhi Niao actually found she respected him for wearing. He then turned, following the trail left behind by Fala and Louis-Etienne.

After he left it seemed as if the air in the room had improved. It was safe to breathe again. Everyone relaxed. Mackenzie smiled at Emile. "Well… that went better than I had expected."

* * *

The first thing that Beth noticed as she emerged from unconsciousness was that she was no longer cold. Having spent the last three days wearing her gym clothes, and then being stripped naked, Beth was certain that she was going to die of hypothermia if the bleeding didn't kill her. After the first day or so she had become accustomed to the cold, but she was still aware that it was there, sinking into her through her skin. Although she certainly wasn't hot, and even calling it warm would have been far too kind, the chill in the air was no longer there. She had gone, it seemed, from being accustomed to acclimatized.

When her eyes opened she shut them quickly again, finding the sunlight fighting to her from the foliage of the redwoods blinding. She opened her eyes much more slowly the second time, letting them adjust. She wasn't dead. She was out of that damnable cave. She was outside. Beth could feel that her hands and her ankles were bound and that she was still naked, but she didn't care. She was alive, and the fresh air smelled wonderful.

Autumn was just touching the forest. The leaves were still green, but spots of color were slowly sinking into them, working inwards from the tips of the leaves. She could hear little mammals scurrying in the underbrush, and occasionally a fat bumblebee buzzed overhead, working steadily to gather what little pollen was left for the approaching winter. Beth was laying on a jacket. She recognized it as her own. Sure enough, her ankles were bound, tied tightly together with a leather thong. Her wrists and hands, however, were free. The binding she had felt was from the white cloth that someone had wrapped around her wounds, helping them stay clean and heal properly.

She had little time to relish her surroundings. Instantly, after realizing that she was alone, the instinct to survive kicked in. Mackenzie and his friends had tried to kill her and she wasn't going to stick around to give them another chance. She leaned over, her fingers trying to undo the knot in her leather bindings. The leather was tight and her fingers were unable to find a spot to pull. It would have to be cut off to free her legs. She didn't have the blade or the nails to be able to do it. Bethany was desperate to get them off. She would take her chances anywhere but with Mackenzie. Anywhere! She was beginning to think she would have to chew through them to get her ankles free.

"I can do undo them for you, provided that you do not try to run away," a male voice said. It sounded amused at her attempts to untangle the leather strap wound around her feet. In a furious mood, Beth snarled. She couldn't see the man yet, but she could smell him. He smelled like a shifter, and there was a hint of fresh blood coming from him. "I do not think it would be a good show of honor between Mackenzie and myself if I lost his captive when I had promised to protect her."

It didn't take a genius to figure out who he was. Beth understood why he smelled like a shifter but had that strange sense of _otherness_ that made her head itch. It was a dragon. She wryly corrected herself, wondering if it was the green dragon. Something inside her hoped it was, and she felt light-headed recalling the way her mind had felt fuzzy when she had seen the great golden eye before her. It was probably a result of blood loss. She wondered how much blood she had lost.

"You're the dragon, aren't you?" She then corrected herself again. "One of them, anyway. My blood really did reawaken you."

"It did, young one." The dragon slid forward, completely human.

Bethany's face went red when she saw him. He was every bit as naked as she was. Bethany was embarrassed at seeing him nude, and knowing that she was nude too, but she didn't think it was as nervous as she should have been. He didn't seem to find anything strange with both of them being nude. His gaze was steady and level, and there was no sign of shame or embarrassment on his face. In fact, if anything it seemed as though he was proud with the state of his body.

She guessed it was because of the fact that he was handsome and he knew it. He was handsome. His chest was smooth and well-defined, his arms strong and muscular. His obloquies were so well-muscled that his waist tapered to his hips in such an almost lithe form Beth was jealous for her own straight and narrow body image. Long hair, just slightly shorter than her own, fell around his broad shoulders. His chin was straight and narrow, and with the alertness of his eyes, it reminded Beth a little of a hawk. Kotori and Zhi Niao had the same perceptive, predatory movements in their face, always aware of their surroundings, but this man almost made it look lazy.

Confidence. That was what was so appealing about him. Confidence oozed out of every inch of him, from the way he proudly bore himself to the way he proudly spoke and the way he held his head high. If Beth knew that she could become a dragon the size of a house she bet that she'd be confident too, though.

As Bethany sized up her latest captor, the dragon was starring at her curiously, even if the curiosity didn't show on his face. He had long ago learned that displaying emotions so openly was hazardous to ones health. Other dragons took it as a sign of weakness. As far as dragons went, he was still young. He was, in fact, the fourth youngest dragon in his immediate family, but even that meant that he was still several decades old, and a hardened warrior. He had chosen to pass amongst the humans as a hunter, and the form had a reason behind it. It had not been taken for nothing. He was their patron, and their guide on the hunt.

This girl was not a hunter. She was young, and yet she had been put through so much, though perhaps nothing more than the women of the human families surrounding him would have been through at her age.

He studied her body. He could see the frame of her shoulders lined cautiously with developing muscles. She was a hard worker, yet her body still carried hints of baby fat around her waist. Her breasts were small and ill-formed. There was no hair on her save on her head, accounting for the way he remembered her body shivering with cold and covered with bumps when he had carried her.

"They say that they captured you in battle. It is strange to think of someone like you fighting."

"They took me out of my house by throwing me down the stairs and making me pass out," she spat.

The dragon shrugged. "Ambushes are battle. Sometimes the best warrior is not the one who is most prominent in battle, but the stealthiest or the one who comes up with the best plan." He walked towards her and he could smell the elevation in her fear. It had a bitter taste to it he didn't like. The man raised an eyebrow, walking slower. "You need not fear me. Had I wanted you dead, I would have eaten you. I have promised to protect you to keep Fala from harming you."

"Who the hell is Fala?"

"A red dragon also awoken by your blood." He sat down cross-legged beside her on the grass. His eyes were kept locked on her face. "She wishes your demise, calling you an abomination."

Much to his surprise, Bethany tilted back her head and laughed loudly. He had expecting spite and anger at his comment, but not this helpless acceptance and forced humor. "It's not the first time I've heard that, dragon. If you're seriously going to protect me from everybody who wants to kill me because I'm half-human, you're going to have to take on a lot of people."

The male was silent for a moment, and then he shrugged. "I promised to protect you."

"But not from Mac. Just from people who want to kill me for my heritage. Not from Mac, who wants to sacrifice me because of it."

His eyes widened almost perceptively. It had been foolish of him to say that. Yes, he had promised Mackenzie to protect her, but he had meant from anybody who wanted to hurt her and thereby prevent them from waking up the other dragons. He simply had phrased it wrong. How quick this girl was to catch on to it and draw connections from the creatures of hatred like Fala, to Mackenzie, who saw her death as martyrdom. He decided to change the topic.

"He has told me that you are my enemy."

Beth rolled her eyes. She shifted, curling her knees up to her chest and keeping her side to the dragon, still modest with her nudity. "Mackenzie wants a world where shifters and Native Americans rule, forcing the white people and the vampires to know what it's like on the bottom for once. I think that it's a fun dream, but that a dream is all it ever will be. He's talking about starting a war. Innocent people will die. And how can we cover up this war? You don't know what the world is like out there, dragon. The world is a current of information. We can know what happens half way around the world in a matter of seconds. I fear the humans would find out about us in a way that will make us a danger to them, and we would. By forcing people into ghettos and rearranging the government and jurisdiction of this entire country, we would be a threat.

"I want equality. I think humans do have a right to know about the Night World. But we should be equals, regardless of caste or race. That is what my organization believes. And, what's more, we were going to do it without waking up the dragons. You may have honor, but some of the other dragons were merciless, keeping humans locked up like cattle. We're taught that they are mad and power hungry and, above all, dangerous. I think that we can rearrange the order of this world without your help, and maybe then, one by one we can wake you up and reintroduce you to the world around you."

"You wanted me to remain asleep?"

Beth was angered at the hint of hurt in his voice. How dare he be angry at her? "Yes, I did! Wouldn't you? Mac told me I was going to die! He cut off my clothes, he… he held me down and slit my wrists, and left me there to bleed myself to d… death!" There were tears running down her face. She turned away from the dragon, ashamed by her tears. Her slim shoulders shook. "I didn't want you to sleep forever. It's unfair. I just didn't want to die to do it…"

"You are a shifter. Losing blood would not have killed you. You are one of our descendants and stronger than that."

"Barely!" she snapped. "I'm _barely_ eligible to call one of your descendants. I can't be called a shapeshifter if I can't change my shape, and I can't. I have a bit of healing power, and I have somewhat better senses and a bit of strength and speed, but that's it. It is entirely possible that I can bleed to death."

She became quiet, watching a bird in the branches of the tree above them flitter about from twig to twig. The bird, Beth thought, looked lonely. "What would you do with me, dragon? If I were born like this in your age, what would have been done with me?"

He grinned wickedly. It was strange that it seemed to suit his face. He had dealt with death for longer than Beth had been alive, and he had developed a twisted sense of humor for dealing with it. "Fodder."

He richly laughed at her expression. "I apologize. That joke was meant to be funny, but obviously you take the stories you have heard quite seriously. I assure you that they have been exaggerated. I grew up in these mountains, soaring over that ocean," he said, gesturing in the direction of the ocean, "and we never once had pens.

"I will not lie to you. We ate humans. We ate the ones who challenged our authority as a demonstration that we were the better hunters. We ate ones who failed to honor the rituals. We ate the ones who over-hunted and over-fished and then hoarded their catch from their kinsmen. We ate the humans to control their numbers, just as they killed lesser animals to control their numbers."

"And who ate you?" Beth bitterly demanded.

"Oh, other dragons, for one. We were constantly fighting with one another. We had given our protection to the people in our territory, but so did other dragons in their territories. We were always fighting with them to try and keep our humans safe."

She shook her head. "That's not survival of the fittest. You weren't preyed upon. You were just trying to keep your land safe. Worse, it's trying to keep your food supply safe!"

"It was indeed survival of the fittest. The fittest were the warriors strong enough and smart enough to survive our skirmishes. The survival of the fastest, smartest, and strongest, gave birth to my generation, and in turn my generation will give birth to a new caliber of dragon."

"Fine, but it's still not the same thing as being killed for food like you killed humans."

"Of course it was not. We dragons are the top of the food chain. Therefore, we fight each other. You humans are at the top of the food chain now, are you not?"

"Well… I suppose. Occasionally someone still gets eaten by a mountain cat or a bear or a shark or something, but not in the same numbers that we kill them."

"And do you fight each other to keep your numbers down?"

She shook her head. "We don't do it with the intent of keeping our numbers down. They fight for stupid reasons, like religion or land or politics."

The dragon took a moment to process this information. "Just how many people live in this land now?"

"In this country—ah, Canada," she said tentatively, uncertain how much he had learned since the events inside the cavern, "there's about thirty million people."

"Million?"

"Yeah um…. One million is one person more than nine hundred… um." She stopped, and thought about it another way. "You know how many a thousand is, right? What about ten thousand? Okay, ten thousand people, a hundred times over, is a hundred thousand. A hundred thousand people, a hundred times over, is a million people. And there are thirty of those groups of people in this country."

"Such numbers!" The dragon shook his head. "How do you feed yourselves? No, no. I must answer your questions now. I have many questions, and I will have much time to learn the answers. You asked what would have happened to you in my world. Back then, all those years ago, had you the ability to become an animal, you would have been a liaison between our groups of people. You would have carried messages and orders. Sometimes you would have been animal, and other times you would have been human, as you were now. The humans would have believed you were somehow semi-divine."

"You mean I would have been some kind of a… a spirit guide?"

His dark eyes lit up, pleased that she knew the term. "Mackenzie made it sound as if all of our ways had been lost. I am pleased to see he was incorrect. Yes, a spirit guide. You would have been sacred to them, untouched, for you were semi-divine. You would have also been untouchable by us, to show honor to the humans. You could have died an old maid with honor, but you also could have had sexual encounters with humans and been free from persecution, for you would have done them honor by laying with them. You could have also had a dragon-lover, and though he would take precautions to ensure no child would come of the marriage, having such a man would have been an honor to you, reaffirming the trust and love between our kind and the humans."

"And if I couldn't have changed my shape?"

"Then no one would now the origin of your birth and you would be just another girl, perhaps stronger or hardier than the rest, but no different from them. By now, you may be courted, or perhaps already married, provided that you had started your woman's blood and were fertile." He watched the blush spread over her cheeks. "No woman's blood, then?"

Anger flashed in her eyes. "That's really none of your business," she snapped. "Why wouldn't you have wanted to have a child with someone who was half-human?"

"Because there is never any guarantee that the child would be like you, and be unable to change. While sexual relations with a human girl is acceptable, mating is not. It is a weakening of our blood, and would endanger us. We dragons are to remain strong to protect our lands from the other clans. We cannot do so when we lose our power by mingling our blood with humans. In the same way that… that a man may seek solace with an animal for companionship, breeding between the two should not take place."

The snapping anger in her eyes turned to outright ferocity. "Are you comparing us to some kind of a pet dog?!" she roared, her vice echoing in the forest.

He frowned. "One with a very bad temper in your case." Her cheeks turned beet red, and it amused him. There was a patient smile on his face Beth wanted to claw off. "If you promise to behave and not try and do something foolish like attack me or run away, I will untie you, if you wish."

"I'd prefer some clothes, thank you," she snarled. Regardless her defensive attitude Beth straightened her legs so that he could untie them without getting close to him. As handsome and as kind as the dragon was turning out to be, he was still her enemy and captor. He also had a major attitude problem. The pride he exuded was quickly becoming a turn-off.

The dragon cracked his knuckles, extending claws. They took Beth by surprise, but they made sense. He had to have some way to defend himself when he was in his human form. Apparently he had claws. She eyed his hairline. He also had horns, she knew, wondering where they were hiding under his ebony hair. His hand brushed her ankle, his touch shocking her. He paused at the sensation and drew his hand back slowly, staring at the back of his hand as if it were something traitorous or disgusting, yet the emotion only showed in his eyes. The rest of his face was as emotionless as ever.

"Strange… I have been asleep for so long, it feels so good to have contact. For so long, there were only dreams, and the fading memories of what constituted sunshine, or the scent of the ocean air, or… or touch." He turned from his hand to Bethany. She had her arms crossed over her forming breasts and she was leaning over, trying to hide her belly, her legs crossed to hide the junction of her legs.

The color of her skin was smooth and even, and her body looked so soft. Every part of him yearned to lean over and to touch her shoulder, to feel the warmth and delicateness of her skin and the muscle beneath it, just to remind himself that he still knew what touch was. He wanted to lean over and smell her hair, faint traces of an exotic, flower-scented shampoo still clinging to her hair.

Years of propriety stopped him. He knew that once had he felt such urges he would not have hesitated on them, but that was when such an advances would have been welcome. Beth had made it clear that she wished no such advances from him in her body language, protecting herself from him with her weak arms. "You… you are ashamed of your nudity." She nodded. "Why?"

She arched an eyebrow. She didn't like her body. She hated her body. It never did what she asked it too, and she didn't look like other girls in her class. She hated the pudge she still had on her sides and her cheeks, and she wished that she had enough breasts to at least support an A-cup properly. She felt awkward and gangly and it wasn't fair. Worse, now she had a man eyeing her and she kept wondering if he was going to eat her or force himself on her. God knew that he was strong enough to do it.

"It's not considered appropriate to go naked anymore."

He rubbed his chin, pondering what she had said. "Yes. There were vestments piled up in the cave. The hawk-shifter brought your coat for you to act as a blanket to keep your body from becoming cold or dirty. She told me that they had clothing for me as well, but they would have hindered my ability to hunt. I do not wish to be confined."

She shrugged. "No one wants to be confined, but you'll be confined more if you walk around naked. You might as well get used to wearing clothes. Just wear pants and sandals. That's considered appropriate enough for walking around." She blinked. "Aren't you cold?"

"No. I will be when the winter-rains begin, but a well-oiled skin will keep the rain from me." He eyed her again. "It is a shame you rely upon vestments. I do not think that I would like to see you clothed. Then I would not be able to see your body and admire it."

The dragon smiled at her, his eyes warming with laughter when he saw the leaves clinging to her hair. He leaned over the coat to pluck the leaf from her hair for her. Her face was pink form what he had said and she flinched when he leaned over her. His fingers gently grasped the leaf from her hair. She froze, and she heard the air escape from her pert mouth as she relaxed. Her body, it turned out, was nice and warm. He could feel the heat from her blush striking his cheeks.

There were faint traces of her soap and shampoo on her body, but the last three days of travel had worn them away. She smelled attractive. He leaned his head toward her, letting his cheek press against hers. His fingers entangled themselves in her hair, and he just stayed like that, with nothing touching her save his hand in her hair and his cheek against hers. He could hear her heart pounding in her chest.

"What are you doing?" she asked nervously.

"I want to kiss you. I do not think that you have been kissed before. I will be the first. You may even like it enough to kiss me back."

He bristled when he felt her recoil from him in fear. He hadn't meant to say that. He had been thinking about it. He had been thinking about it since his hand had touched her ankle that he should like to kiss her. He hadn't meant to say that, though. And then, there was strange sort of puzzlement when he realized that though she had heard the words, he had not spoken them out loud.

She had recoiled from him, and yet her cheek was still pressed against his. She had not moved, but he was aware that somehow she had distance himself from him. He could feel her thoughts. She was thinking about her lips, about how funny they would feel and how it might feel to have him kiss… and then came the rolling wave of shame and ferocious anger when she realized he had heard them.

The dragon opened his eyes—which was strange because his eyes had always been open. He was still in a forest, but this was different. It was night in this place, and Beth stood in front of him, and yet it was not-Beth. He focused first on the surroundings, looking at the plants. Each of them, he saw, were thoughts and memories. Once this had been a barren mind and now it was a thick jungle, paths obstructed by ethics and morals. The girl who stood in front of him was constantly shifting, as if she were some god of legend.

First she was a young girl, and then a well-formed woman, and sometimes part cat, and sometimes all cat. When she was mad, she was all cat, snarling at hissing at him to warn him away. _Get out of my mind!_ she snarled at him, human words coming out a feline mouth. The words echoed around him, screamed at him from even the darkest depths of her mind.

He snarled. "You let your guard down. Do not think to yell at me, fool, when your own mind is also to blame."

_I am not a fool!_ Her ears pulled back and the sandy-colored fur on the back lifted. _This isn't you using telepathy. It's the Soulmate Principle. There is no way to block this. It's a theory…_

"I am well aware of what the principle is," he snapped, looking around her mind again. There were so many plants. How did she find the ones she needed? How did she _think_ with so much in her way? "However, you still lack shields on your mind. Even with the principle, I should not be able to see as much of you as I do. Your mind is weak. A telepath could come in here and wreak havoc, uprooting all of these thought-plants."

He reached for the plant. At once the feline rushed at him, swiping at his hand. _Stop it!_

It was too late. His hand delicately brushed the plant. Her memories poured into him. The easiest memories to read were the most recent. They were all about him. He saw himself as Beth saw him and it startled him. She saw him as some kind of a giant, a foot taller than she was and nearly twice as wide. There was a cold acceptance that if he wished to harm her she would be unable to fight him off. Underneath those thoughts hid the childish, brawling fear as she prayed to the Maiden that he would not force himself on her.

He didn't think it was a strange thought. For all the blushing, Beth was well aware of her body and how it could be violated. The brutality of her thoughts were no more or less graphic than a girl her age would have thought in a hostile situation thousands of years ago. Women back then had also been aware of the sanctity of their own bodies and how it could be violated by their enemies. What had startled him, and even offended him, was that these thoughts were about him.

Of all the people in the world, she should not have to worry about him forcing himself on her. He had promised to protect her and he would protect her even from himself. He was bound by honor to keep her safe and honor was everything. Without honor he was nothing.

The dragon let the thoughts fall back into place. Words and pictures slowly turned green and coalesced back into the shape of a fern. The dragon turned to face Beth. He found her pale and naked in fear. He didn't need to touch the plants around him to know her thoughts. She was frightened that he was going to take the knowledge of her fear and use it to hurt her.

"You're afraid of me," he noted cautiously.

She lifted her face towards him, meeting his eyes. _Of course I am._

"I have given you no reason to fear me."

_Going through my memories doesn't count? Goddess! All you need to do now is _touch _me and you can hurt me!_

"You are my Soulmate. It is my right and privilege to know you."

_Well, I don't want you as my Soulmate! I don't know you and I don't want you to know me!_

The dragon spread his hands helplessly. "You haven't even given me the chance."

_I don't need to give you a chance. You've told me all you need to. Do you want to see why? Do you!? _She threw a memory at him violently.

Bethany stood in front of a mirror. She was thirteen years old, but she appeared younger. It was her birthday. She was a teenager now, and she felt like puberty was just around the corner. Beth hoped that she would be able to change her shape now. She reached down inside of herself, focusing on her power. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on changing her shape. She focused as hard as she could imagining what it would feel like to walk on four legs, and have whiskers and feel the world through fur. She peeked out of one eye. Was her skin tawnier than it had been a moment before? Were her eyes more golden than green?

After half an hour of trying Beth had to accept the changes she saw were nothing more than flights of fancy. She was _desperate_ to change. She was trying so hard to force it upon herself that her head was pounding and every fiber of her body hurt, burning hot to the touch. In the end, she collapsed against the floor of her bedroom, pressing her cheek against the cerulean carpet, sobbing.

This wasn't the body she was supposed to be in. She felt trapped and claustrophobic, emotionally and physically weak. This wasn't supposed to be her. This wasn't supposed to be! Why wasn't she allowed to change? Why!?

The memory faded away. The dragon understood, and he pitied her. He could not imagine being trapped in one shape like that, and especially such a weak and unstable one, incapable of defending itself. In his world she would be nothing more than his lover, never fully accepted by his society for her inability to shift and never fully accepted by the human one because she was too strong, too fast, and too wild. No matter what their connection, she would never be seen as his partner, the way things were supposed to be. She wanted more than that. She wanted acceptance, and that was the one thing he was incapable of giving her.

Worse, they were enemies. He would become strong and when he was done, when he was at his peak, they would bleed her again. There was always a possibility that she would survive the second resurrection. If she did live, when their war broke out she would continue to be nothing more than his captive, his prisoner of war.

Then there was the age difference, which created a whole new problem. He'd had lovers before, and yet she still shied away at the sight of his body and tried to hide hers, ashamed. He had much more experiences than she did, and he refused to force anything upon her. Worse still! How could they deal with the racial differences? He had eaten humans. It was natural for him, no more different than eating a pig or a cow or some other weak creature. He had eaten enemy warriors and heretics and criminals, but they were all humans. She was part human. How could she ever learn to feel anything for him other than fear and revulsion when she failed to see him as anything other than some human-eating monster?

Fate was laughing at him. He had awoken to discover a new adventure only to discover that the differences between his society and Beth's barred them from becoming close to one another. He stared at her, taking in her face and the pain he saw fleeting over it. He could feel the bonds tying them together, no matter how much Beth fought them or denied them.

"If you don't mind," he ventured cautiously, "I can show you how to shield your mind from any unwanted telepathic suggestions. You can preset them to accept people you work or live with."

_A bit like setting a home security system, huh?_ He looked confused, so she quickly explained. _It makes sense. The brain is just a big bundle of nerves, like an organic bundle of wires._

"Yes," he agreed. The dragon showed her the shields and how to set them, carefully and patiently explaining the process to her. She listened attentively, until she was fairly certain that she would be able to do it herself. "You need to guard your mind more. You have been lucky thus far. No one has taken advantage of it."

He missed the way the guilt swam over her face as she recalled the way Mackenzie had entered her mind to sever the connection between her body and her mind. The dragon did hear, however, the underlying note of hope in her voice. He prayed he wasn't imagining it. _Even from you?_

The dragon broke the connection, physically pulling away from Beth. Her scent traveled with him and he had to fight to ignore it. His eyes lingered on her lips, feeling the bond between them tug at his heart. Everything in him wanted to do nothing but give this pitiable creature the best life he could, protecting her and loving her and making her happy. "Especially from me."

He stood up. Beth watched him pace. "I still don't even know your name."

The dragon glanced over his shoulder. "Kaneonuskatew."

She didn't think she could pronounce it. "I'm Bethany. People usually call me Beth."

Kaneonuskatew arched an eyebrow. He tried her name experimentally. "Beeth-ahn-knee. I will call you by your full name. I enjoy it. It feels strange and exotic on my tongue."

Pressing a finger to his lips he motioned for her to fall silent. She could hear something moving around. Louis-Etienne pushed through the thick British Columbian underbrush. He spotted the tall dragon first and then Bethany. Her blush began to subside when he didn't even acknowledge her nudity. Beth mentally thanked the werewolf's undying sense of loyalty.

"You untied her," he noted.

Kaneonuskatew nodded. "Beeth-ahn-knee and I have reached an understanding. She will not try to run away, and so I have left her the freedom of movement and power of walking on her own."

"Whatever. Come on, you two. Fala's done feeding. If you are too then we're going to head out. We've got a bit of a trek back home."

He nodded. He offered to help Beth up but she avoided touching him. When she looked at him she could feel their connection drawing them closer. She didn't want to touch him again. She didn't want him in her mind again. She didn't want him to leave her again. She wanted to pretend that her mind didn't feel lonely without the comfort of his surprisingly soothing thoughts brushing hers, like crests of the ocean lapping at the shoreline...

Instead, she watched him pick up her jacket and brush off the dirt for her before handing it to her so that she could hide her body. Beth appreciated the gesture. For the first time Kaneonuskatew was beginning to understand why clothes were designed. He didn't want to know that other men saw her body and lusted for it, or even that they admired it. She was _his_ Soulmate, and no one else had the right to admire her.

Especially when he himself lacked that right

* * *

AN: To be continued, as per usual. I just realized I made an error writing this. Lacking a map, I thought that Vancouver was on the island and Victoria on the mainland, but I was incorrect. I'll try to correct the mistake in the future. Until then, it remains as a gross error and proof I need to brush up on Canadian geography.

But besides that, ain't Cain great?

Happy New Year!


	7. Noon

**C h a p t e r S e v e n**

**N o o n**

They trekked for two days. Kaneonuskatew felt lonely in that time. Fala kept snipping at him, no one was talking to him, and Beth was downright ignoring him. Marching was quickly becoming boring. He spent most of his time thinking, and when Beth became tired, he spent a majority of the time making sure his jealousy wasn't showing as Louis-Etienne carried Beth.

He wore clothes. They felt strange, but he was slowly becoming accustomed to them. The sandals kept his feet from becoming cold, dirty and sore. The jeans kept the brambles and nettles and pines from scratching him. They reminded him of the leather he used to wear before he had been put to sleep. The shirt he simply could not fathom. It itched and he didn't like it. He rolled up the sleeves to his forearms, and he preferred that, but it still itched.

Eventually they stopped for supper. Zhi Niao unrolled the bedrolls she had been carrying; Louis-Etienne went off to dig a latrine and Emile began to build a fireplace while Mac gather firewood. Fala went off to hunt, and he stayed to watch Beth. She was curled up on one of the bedrolls, still wearing her jacket. She looked so helpless when she slept. Where did the defensiveness and the ferocity go when she slept?

Her hands were gently curled, her thumb just brushing her lips. Her arms were held close to her body for warmth. Her legs were slightly bent. They were surprisingly shapely and he wished the others were not paying such great attention to him so he could fondly watch her more.

The men returned and took over the camp. Gawain crawled into a sleeping bag. Kaneonuskatew could tell from the sweat emanating from the young boy that he had pushed himself to keep up with the adults. He didn't want to appear weak. The women went off to hunt and the men held down the camp. When the dragon picked up on Gawain's breathing becoming deep and even, Kaneonuskatew realized his opportunity had arrived.

"Louis-Etienne, I'm sure you wish to hunt with your lover. Why don't you go and hunt with her? I'm here to watch the prisoner and Mackenzie is here as well. The camp will be more than adequately protected. Besides, I wish to talk to Mackenzie privately."

The werewolf turned to his boss, his pale eyes glowing with a yellow tinge in the firelight. "Can I, Mac?"

Mackenzie shrugged. "Sure. I think we'll be all right. You know Beth. She waits until she has the chance to win when she fights. Beth has patience when it comes to that. She doesn't have the chance right now, so long as we have the dragons on our side. Besides, she's asleep. You go and join Niao. I'm eager to hear wait Cain has to say."

He grinned excitedly. There was little he liked more than hunting with Zhi Niao. The only thing he liked more than that was fighting with Zhi Niao and having sex with her, which mostly seemed to overlap in the first place. His smile kept pulling back as his jaw changed. Dark fur spread over his body, replacing his clothes. In mere moments he raced off, howling joyously for his mate to join him in the hunt.

"You've made him a happy man, Cain."

He shrugged. "I'm glad I was able to please him."

"You've gotten the hang of using contractions, I see." The dragon nodded. Mac was sitting cross-legged on the ground. He bent one knee, leaning his chin on it as he stared over the fire pit. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Kaneonuskatew gestured over to Beth with his gaze. "Her, and her world. To be able to fight for control over the world, I must understand her world. I wish training to understand your technologies and your history."

The vampire thought about it, rubbing his chin. "You're a little too old for school in that body. Can you give yourself a younger body, around Beth's age? I'm sorry if it's impolite for asking, but I'm not exactly sure how your shifting ability works—I actually doubt that _anyone_ knows."

The dragon smiled. "Understandable. I am able to take another human form, a Native American boy of Beth's age."

"Great. Gawain can hack into the school computers. We'll send you to a place where you can learn and study your opponents and socialize. You'll be able to start in two days. If Fala would like to join you, we can arrange for her to attend as well." He paused, judging the dragon's reaction. "As Fala doesn't like you very much, I'll run the idea by her. If you ask her I worry she'll pick a fight with you."

He didn't want Fala to accompany him. This was his project. Fala would do nothing but complain about how stupid the humans were, or about the smell. However, he decided it was best to let the subject go. He hoped Fala wouldn't want to go in favor of the other thing he wanted to discuss. "I also would like to talk about Bethany."

For a long time Mackenzie had been wondering about his sister's name. Beth had made it clear to him no one called her by her full name and yet Cain had been using it for several days without any sign of retaliation from the young girl. His voice was stern, the streak of protectiveness he had spent the last few days denying and hating. "She likes to be called Beth."

"She has not complained to me. I will continue to call her Bethany until she asks me to stop. I wish for you to free Bethany from her captivity when we return home."

"You want me to do what?"

"Free Bethany. You don't need her right now. Why keep her? Why cause her family stress? Let her go. We can still keep tabs on her so that we know where she is. I'm a good hunter, Mackenzie. Trust me, I could find her anywhere. She doesn't know our plan. Let her go."

Mackenzie frowned as he thought about it. He wanted to say yes, but he had other people to think about as well. What would Emile say? Or Zhi Niao? He didn't want to keep Beth locked up in the basement. They were kin, after all. Daybreaker or not, he was aware that Beth should be allowed to enjoy life to the fullest extent possible.

"You will be responsible for taking her home," he said, "as it is your wish that set her free. I'll explain it to my people, but if Fala argues, it will be your job to keep her from going ballistic."

He nodded. "I have already taken that into consideration."

Cain left when he felt Fala drawing close. Sleep had made her careless. She was returning to the camp from upwind, her scent filtering into the camp. Cain was not so careless. He always made sure to keep his scent hidden from Fala, knowing fully well that though they had peace at the moment, Fala would surely one day break it. Red dragons were treacherous like that. Centuries of sleep could not break the centuries of animosity that stretched between them.

"Fala," he interrupted her, surprising her. Hatred hardened her eyes as soon as she realized it was him. He kept his voice hard and stern. "We need to talk."

Her dark brown eyes narrowed and her lip curled upwards in a sneer of disgust. He had grabbed her shoulder as she walked by him, pulling her to a stop, and her gaze was locked on the way his fingers were defiling her clothes. "What is it, green-one? Speak quickly. Our treaty does not mean you need to retain your hand."

Cain was surprised by how different Fala was from Beth. They had the same face shape and hair, and when she hit puberty, he was certain that Beth would have the same kind of figure Fala did, and yet the anger they both reacted with to his presence manifested itself so differently. Fala's anger was disfiguring, a disgusting emotion that twisted her face. Beth's he saw as honest and made her face become flushed, her eyes shining brilliantly with the ferocity and depth of her anger. He was actually a little jealous that Beth was able to feel her emotion so completely and still show such little of it on her face. In contrast, he felt little and showed nothing.

"I don't want to awaken the other dragons."

"What?"

Cain was laying the foundation for his web. He wanted to ensure that no harm would come to Bethany. The first step had been to make sure she was set free. He couldn't stand the idea of thinking of her held up, locked up in some dark basement. The second step was to make sure that Fala wouldn't have a reason to harm Beth. Fala hated humans; that was the way of her tribe. They ate humans without remorse or justification.

Fala had made it perfectly clear she wanted to wipe out Bethany from existence. Their tribe believed that no dragon should ever mate with a human. Even shapeshifters were too weak for their tastes. He knew, even if the others didn't, that Fala had agreed to their plan because they alone knew a way to awake the other dragons. As soon as she had that power herself she'd turn on them.

He had to make sure that Fala would not want to bring back the other dragons.

He brushed his hand against her cheek lovingly. She glared at his touch, but he could smell the subtle changes around her body as it leaked hormones. Hate him as she may, Fala was still well aware that, to the best of their knowledge, he was the only male dragon awake and therefore, the only potential mate. He let tones of seduction creep into his voice, the slightest hint of fondness removing the crisp edge of authority.

"We have been given a great opportunity here, Fala. The world can be ours if we only wish to take it. Time has made these mortals weak and foolish. They will be easy prey for us if we work together."

"_I?_" she sneered. "I, work with a dragon like _you_? Don't insult me, Kaneonuskatew! What could you possibly offer me that would tempt me to turn my back on my family, on our morals and side with my enemy?"

"Power." Immediately she froze. Yes, Fala wanted power. "I can offer you as much as you would like. Together, we could rule from the mountains to the ocean. We could do whatever we liked, whenever we liked. You would be Queen of all you see here, Fala. We wouldn't have to share it with anybody." He moved closer to her, wrapping his arms loosely around her waist and holding her close. His long hair brushed her face as she stiffly subjected to being held in the crook of his arms. "And there would be me. You know I would produce fine children with you."

"Mate with a green dragon? I hate you all. Human-loving scum…"

"I hate you too. In the bedroom I have scarcely been able to tell the difference between hate and love. You will hate me more for what I will make you do and feel and say when I mate with you, Fala. I will have liaisons with others, yes, but you will bear my children. When they grow up, we will send them to the other side of the mountains and we will regain more of this land, our two bloodlines intermingled." He paused for effect. "The red dragons would, in time, rule the whole continent. It is just as your family dreamed of all those years ago."

She didn't have a witty response. Fala was giving his plan consideration. "What do you get out of it?"

He let himself smile, exactly the type of smile that Fala wanted to see when she looked up at him. It was predatory and a little cruel. Cain always made sure that he wore his masks well. "You. And, of course, my children will also have this continent, just as my family as always wanted."

She was still wavering with indecision. He leaned down and kissed her soundly on the lips, the types of kisses he had learned in his youth that made girls fawn on him. If only Beth had let him kiss her! No, he corrected himself. He could never kiss Beth like this, so hard and full of need, not as a first kiss. She needed pleasant, languid kisses that made her mind feel numb and warm.

Fala licked her lips, tasting him. He could taste the blood on her lips from her kill. It reminded him that he needed to feed, but business came first. She smiled, but her eyes remained disturbingly withheld from the smile. "I accept your offer, Kaneonuskatew."

With a pang of sadness, he kissed Fala again, knowing that no mask he wore was good enough to hide the pang of guilt which wrenched his heart when he thought of Beth.

* * *

When they got home, Beth was pulled aside by Cain. Her jacket kept the Soulmate connection from starting up, but even being that close to him was enough to make her feel off-centered. When he was around she sometimes doubted she could tell left from right or up from down. She gave him a tired look, not quite having the energy to glare at him. He was holding a bag of clothes in his other hand, which he extended to her.

"These are the smallest-sized vestments Emile owns," he told her. "She has told me they should fit you well enough. Get in the bathroom and change, please."

"Why?" Not that Beth didn't appreciate the idea of clothes. She was tired and hungry and whenever she thought of how she was wearing nothing but a jacket she felt as if she blushed so hard her ears were burning. What she really wanted was a warm bubble bath followed by a warm shower and then hot chocolate and the biggest, fluffiest sweaters she could find followed by her bed. She simply didn't understand Kaneonuskatew. Why was he giving her clothes?

The others hadn't seemed to overhear what they were saying. They were ignoring the two of them, standing in the kitchen and glaring at each other. Beth cursed herself. Had she been less tired and paid more attention she would have seen that four seconds ago, before he had grabbed her arm, she had the perfect opportunity to escape. His voice was low to keep from drawing attention to them.

"I know you don't trust me. I'm not asking you to start trusting me. I encourage you to think of me as your enemy, and I will do the same for you, but I would be doing myself a great dishonor if I failed to abide by my promise and keep you safe, and the safest place for you is away from Fala. I'm giving you an order as your captor, Bethany. Go and change." She didn't move, stubbornly staring at him, as if that could help her understand him. His dark eyes were like mirrors, hiding his true thoughts from her. "Now."

She went off to change. Shutting and locking the bathroom door behind her, she pulled out the clothes from the bag. Wrinkling her nose at the idea of putting on someone else's underwear—however clean they were—she put them on regardless. The idea of wearing jeans without underwear was even less appealing to Beth. The jeans were an inch too long, but she rolled them up. They fit fine around the waist, however. The shirt was baggy in all the wrong places, and it itched a little without a bra. Beth knew that nothing the lamia owned would have fit anyway. Lastly, there was a sweater. She put that on with gusto, wrapping it around herself and trying to bury herself in the warmth of the wool, even if it did itch.

She folded the paper bag back up only to realize that there was another door out of the washroom. Pressing her ear against it, she didn't hear anyone and wanted to have a peek where it went. The bathroom turned out to be linked to Emile and Mackenzie's bedroom. The décor was maroon, decorated with gold here and there to lighten the room and add accents to it. She wanted to shut the door, but there was such a feeling of normalcy that she couldn't help but step into it, just for a moment, to remind herself that there were still people in the world who were normal.

Beside the door was a bureau. It was lined with a jewelry box and pictures. She found herself looking at the pictures. Emile and Mackenzie were posed in front of the zoo together. The sun was shining. Emile was wearing a miniskirt and laughing as Mackenzie splashed water from fountain at her. Both of them were smiling. Beside it was one taken at Christmastime. Mackenzie looked handsome in a dark red sweater, and strangely relaxed with the book he held in his hands. His eyes were closed as he napped against Emile, who was nestled tightly in his arms, as sound asleep as he was.

She shut the door to their bedroom quietly. She didn't want to see anymore. It was easier to hate Mac when she thought of him as a terrorist, and not a man who had a loving wife and a life.

* * *

They drove for a long time. Beth noted that Mackenzie, driving the white van, was making the route as complicated as he could, as if trying to confuse her. Beth didn't care. She wasn't paying attention. She was just trying hard not to think. She'd done a lot of thinking in the past six days, and she was tired of it. If there was a way to keep Cain from siding with Mackenzie, she hadn't been able to think of it. She had come to terms with it long ago: they were enemies.

But saying it and believing it were two different things. It was hard to keep thinking of them as enemies when he dusted off her coat or did something similarly nice for her. He confused her. He was dangerous because he was tearing her in two. How could she fight him? How could she let her friends fight him when they would probably die in the attempt? How could she side with him when he wanted the subordination of her people?

She had often thought it would be better if she just seduced him and slit his throat when he slept. But she couldn't do that. He was her Soulmate. When he got close to her she tried to physically push him away but her very body refused to act to such a thought. It would be easier for Bethany's hand to slit her own throat than to harm him.

So she just thought and reflected. Eventually they were going to kill her. Maybe she could deduce one of the theories of the universe first, and then die happy knowing that she had finally discovered the meaning of life only to let it die with her. Yes, she decided. Douglas Adams would have appreciated that humor.

Mackenzie pulled the car to a stop at a Mac's convenience store. He hoped out and nodded to Cain. The dragon undid his seat belt and motioned for Beth to undo hers. He opened the door for them to both hop out. Beth's legs were sore as she stood, looking around. She recognized this area. She was only two blocks from…

**_Don't say anything_**, he warned her. His arm slipped around hers and he steadily pulled her away. Her head hurt from the sound of his telepathic voice. It kind of rumbled. It was like standing next to a waterfall when the sound echoed around you. There was a definite, deafening kind of rumble.

They walked steadily in silence. Had they not been dirty and tired and grumpy and ignoring each other as intently as they could, it almost would have been a pleasant walk. Beth could feel her heart beginning to beat harder in happiness. Yes, she was close to home. It dawned on her as they drew to a stop only a few minutes from her house. He had promised to keep her away from Fala. He was letting her go. She was going _home_.

He didn't need to tell her when she turned to see him. The shine and light of hope in her eyes told him everything. She had already figured it out. He wanted to tell her anyway as his hand slipped from her arm. "I'm letting you go."

"But… why?"

It was a question neither of them wanted to have asked. Beth didn't want an answer, and he didn't want to hear the question. Why did she have to ask it? Couldn't she just have accepted it?

"There is no reason for you to remain a prisoner. But I will continue to keep an eye out from you. I release you from bondage, not from being a prisoner. You are still my responsibility to care for and ensure no harm comes to you."

Her face settled stubbornly. She shook her head, and her limp hair barely moved. Even it was tired. "That doesn't answer why. If you're going to kill me to bring back your family, then why not just do it and get it done with?"

"That is not why I am going to watch over you." His voice was stern, but Beth knew why. He was doing it for the same reason that she wouldn't be able to kill him if fate ever gave her the chance. "Mackenzie wants me to tell you not to tell Daybreak where they took you or else he promises he'll do more than read your diary."

She meekly nodded. Yes, Mac had proved that he and Louis-Etienne could do much more than read her diary. She'd give them no reason to attack Eliza. "And you? Do I tell them about you? Do I tell them you're awake?"

He shrugged. "Do whatever you please. I do not care if they know I am awake or not. They will not be able to find me. There is only one person in the world capable to tracking me down. Though she refuses to let me know her, I have seen enough of her life to know that she is too honorable to use the connection between us to tell them where I live."

Beth blushed. No, she would never use their connection like that. She knew then that she would not tell Daybreak that Cain was her Soulmate. She didn't want them to use their connection as bait for him, or to trick her into betraying him, or to wonder whose side she was on. She would show them nothing but fear and loathing. She knew she was good enough to pull it off.

They stood on the corner. They didn't know what to say to each other. "You confuse me," she admitted to Kaneonuskatew.

He held out his hand in silent offering. All she had to do was touch him and she could see his intentions. She shook her head no and stepped back as if she were afraid of what he was offering… and she was. She didn't want to see his mind. She didn't want to hear his thoughts. If it was a twisted place she'd be scared of him and if it wasn't then she knew she'd only long to see it again. She didn't want that connection. She didn't want to remember what it was like to feel that… that _complete_, not after she had just become accustomed to the emptiness of her own mind again.

He let his hand fall back down. He let his mask come right off, knowing that it was the only way Beth would see his sincerity. "I don't love you, either. Nothing I do is out of love. It's done selfishly, or perhaps out of fear of knowing that without you, I… I would be truly alone. I don't want you to love me. I just wish that you could give me a chance to get to change. Give me a reason to change, Bethany. Give yourself a reason to change. Maybe we can find some kind of a middle ground."

She looked up at him in surprise. Hadn't he seen her hate? Sometimes she felt like she was swimming in it. She hated so many people… she felt so dead and bitter on the inside sometimes. She was so tired of life, sometimes!

"I don't want to be like them. I want change, but I won't help start a war to get change."

"It's not a war until your side fights back," he countered, trying to trap her with words.

Beth held her chin proudly. "Yes," she agreed. "It's only a war if we fight back. If we don't, it's a slaughter."

She turned and walked away, letting him chew on that idea.

* * *

No one was home when Beth walked through the door. She called Eliza's cell phone, but no one picked up. Knowing that people would have been worried about her, she then called Kotori. With no answer at her house, she called Nicolas. After the phone rang at is house several times and no one picked it up, Beth decided that she'd had enough of the conscientious friend. She wanted to be selfish and have a shower.

The shower was so hot most of her body had a red shade when she stepped out of it. Wrapped in a bathrobe—the fluffiest one she could find—Beth tossed her dirty clothes in the laundry hamper and ransacked her closet for suitable clothing. She found a pair of lounge pants and a fluffy orange sweater bought from the men's section at Goodwill. It was perfect, coming down to the joints of fingers and making her feel like a fall-colored marshmallow.

Marshmallows made her think of hot chocolate. Beth headed down to the kitchen to make herself some, rummaging around until she found the marshmallows. She sat on the couch with the television playing, fingers wrapped around the hot mug and her body curled in on itself as she tried to relax and forget about her ordeal.

Her mother found her like that when she returned from work. She saw the light on in the living room and ran the rest of the way to the house, throwing open the door. "_Bethany?_" Then she spotted her daughter and ran to her. Beth welcomed her home with open arms. "Bethany! Where were you? We were so worried about you!"

There were tears clinging to her eye lashes as she unwound herself from Eliza. "Momma… I think it'd be better if you sat down to hear this."

* * *

Eliza excused Beth from school the next day, at Daybreak's request. They needed to talk to her. She had contacted them and asked to meet with her team the following morning—Kotori included. Beth knew she would not be able to talk unless Kotori was there to back her up. After Eliza had listened to her story and accepted it with a grain of salt, Beth had doubted Daybreak would believe her. Not that Eliza had called Beth a liar—she knew her daughter was a good and honest girl—she just found it hard to believe that a fifteen year old boy had seriously been able to break the spells of a witch like Hellewise. Beth had faith that Kotori would support her.

It was because of Kotori that Beth kept from blowing up and getting frustrated. It was because of Kotori's hand laying supportively over hers that Beth's voice never rose, not even when she had to repeat the story for the third, fourth and fifth times. She sat in a meeting room in the Daybreak headquarters, in a cramped and hot room. Clustered around the table were Beth, Kotori, Alicia, Robert and Nick at the head of the table.

The room was painted a shade more grey than blue, and was windowless. Halogen lights made their shadows flicker across the table when they moved. The buzzing sounds from the lights were the only sounds in the room as Beth concluded her story for the fifth time. It seemed her companions had finally concluded she was telling the truth.

Nick ordered them to take a fifteen minute break so he could go and make a phone call. Kotori accompanied Beth to the second floor cafeteria she could buy an Evian. She waited until they were walking back before she inquired about Beth's ordeal.

"What aren't you telling me, Beth?"

"What?"

Her friend shrugged casually, but her body language indicated she was emotionally withdrawn from the conversation. "You haven't looked me in the eye since you arrived. You only do that when you're avoiding me. Something happened out there that you're keeping from me…" She trailed off before she swallowed painfully. Beth suspected that though the tremor she heard in Kotori's voice sounded born from fear, there was a torrent of rage underlying it. "These people abducted you, tore off your clothes, and nearly killed you. What else could they have done to you that's so bad you're ashamed to look me in the eye?"

"Nothing else happened," she lied.

Kotori appeared to remain dubious. Slowly, Beth lifted her face to Kotori's. Her green eyes were determined. She knew she could lie to Kotori and make it believable, although the feeling of that silver tongue touching her lips made her skin want to shudder. She repeated her words and Kotori visibly relaxed, her cheeks blushing with the same of having accused Beth of lying to her.

When they returned to the meeting room, a lamia was standing there. Beth had never seen him before. He looked classy in a black suit with a warm, orange Oxford shirt underneath. It complimented the dark color of his skin, and with the top two buttons left open, it appeared suitable for work but not uptight. Beth wondered, though, if the top two buttons were undone because is neck was too thick for those buttons to even close.

Like all the vampire kin, he possessed the strange kind of beauty that marked all Night Worlders. It was strange to see that he possessed long lashes, blending invisibly against his skin, or the way his lips seemed to move so suggestively when he spoke. He looked much more like a fighter: a large neck, muscular hands, thick limbs, broad shoulders, and a stern chin. When she shook his hand in greeting, Beth found his handshake firm and competent, and he squeezed tightly as if testing her. Beth squeezed back for every bit of strength in her much smaller hands.

He smiled when he felt her fighting back. His teeth were perfectly straight and pearl-like. Bethany sized up the predator in him. He was one of those people who liked to play with his food before he ate it as a kid. She'd stake her allowance on it. "So, you are Bethany."

"It's Beth," she corrected him. Her hand felt kind of numb from shaking hands with him.

Nick smiled. "Beth, this is the man in charge of running Daybreak, Mr. Duncan."

"Nicolas, Nicolas, Nicolas. It's just Duncan. The last thing I want is to have people calling me 'mister'." He smiled fondly at Beth—and she saw then how he was able to become the leader of a region of Daybreak.

He may have had the underlying streak of dark satisfaction all Night Worlders had—probably from an unhealthy relationship with seeing too much violence and bloodshed—and he was clearly a fighter, but there was a charisma there too that left all his other traits forgotten. The man could charm a rock, Beth was sure. So completely and utterly unlike Kaneonuskatew, who rarely showed anything…

She steered her mind away from that train of thought and took her seat.

"Nicolas has been kind enough to fill me in on everything that's been happening," Duncan said, taking Nick's vacated seat at the head of the table. Again, he flashed that sincere smile Beth's way. Nicolas took an empty seat beside Kotori, and Kotori's cheeks turned red by his proximity. No one but Beth noticed. Everyone else was too busy concentrating on Duncan. He commanded the room. "Don't worry. I won't make you repeat your story, Beth. If you say there are two dragons loose, then I believe you. The question remains, what do we do now?"

Alicia answered, staring across the table at Beth. "We protect her. She's the key, right? They need her to awaken the others, right? We make sure they can't do that! We hide Beth, put her in a safe house or something where they can't get at her again!"

Duncan was already nodding his head in agreement. Beth didn't want to go to a safe house. Leave school? Leave Daybreak? Leave her home? She was shaking her head. "It won't work. They'll be able to find me. Kaneonuskatew, he's my… he's a good tracker. He can find me anywhere, probably by scent alone. It doesn't matter how far away I am, he'll find me. Besides, all they need is someone half-shifter and half-human. It doesn't have to be, just someone like me."

The leader of Daybreak arched an eyebrow curiously. "And what do you propose we do, as you are so quick to shoot down the ideas of your companions?"

Beth chewed on her bottom lip. She wasn't used to being put on the spot, and especially not about tactics. She felt guilty she had been so quick to judge Alicia's idea. Alicia didn't know Cain was her Soulmate. If it wasn't for that, it would have been a good idea. But even in Daybreak she could feel their connection humming steadily between them, stretching across the city. If she touched it she knew she'd be able to pick up on his emotions and make sure that he wasn't scared or in danger… but she never wanted to touch that connection. She wanted to ignore it and pretend it didn't exist.

"Kaneonuskatew wants to protect his people. Mackenzie has led him to believe that this is the right and _only_ way of doing it. We may be able to convince him otherwise. If we did, we'd have a match in firepower for Fala. I tried to convince him whenever we spoke, but he wouldn't listen. He was... preoccupied. The others aren't bad. They may listen to change as well. We just lack the ability to put them in a time and a place where they listen."

"They almost killed you," Kotori hissed over to her. "How can you say that they're good people? Think of all the others they killed!"

"I know!" Beth snapped back. Her face was red with embarrassment. What if the other thought she was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or something, now? "But the fact is that they are still _people_, not monsters. All of them have some kind of a reason for acting in this way. I'm not absolving what they did—I think they need to be punished for the crimes they committed, but you have to understand that they all possessed _real_ reasons for wanting to change our society! They're just doing it in the wrong way. Remember psychology and sociology class, Kotori? If all a body is ever shown is violence, then violence is all it will ever know! Isn't that what Daybreak is here for? To give a non-violent option?"

Duncan was nodding his head approvingly. That was what Daybreak was there for. They weren't pacifist, but they preferred taking first, and fought only when all other options had been examined.

"Fala is the dangerous one. If it gets to a fight, we should concentrate on taking her down first. She kills indiscriminately. Cain will wait until he has a reason. We do research. Figure out how to hurt, capture, slow down a dragon, whatever. We could talk to other sects of Daybreak, maybe try to get our hands on the same documents they had. Maybe Roger could put them to sleep.

"I really don't know. Hell, I'm a high school student. I don't even have a decent grasp of Shakespeare yet. The point is: we have time. They're gaining power before they try to take us down, but that won't mean they wouldn't kill or attack humans in the meantime. If they press us, I say we should fight, but our primary goal should be to subvert them by some other means."

"You would wish us to fight?" She nodded. Duncan's eyes bore into her. Her mind felt fuzzy. Outside the walls Cain had erected for her she could feel his mind trying to reach hers, to feel out her thoughts. "It would cost us many lives. Why?"

Beth held her chin up proudly. "Because it's better to fight and have some live to carry on our ideals than to sit by and be exterminated."

His mind pulled back from hers. There was the slightest shift in his broad shoulders. He hadn't been able to read her mind. "Bethany, we must discuss the rest of this without you here."

"What? Why--?"

"Thank you for your input. We will take it into consideration. We won't be able to discuss anything, however, because this involves your life too." He paused, fixing the collar of his shirt and slowly letting his eyes drift to her face. "You are a member of Daybreak. Sometimes it means that you must put your fate in the hands of your elders and peers, as you would do with the people who would die fighting these dragons. Now it is time for you to share their fate: what happens to you will be decided by us. You will have no sway in the decisions of this council, just as I will have no say when I take our answers to my leaders. You are excused."

He exuded a coldness from the room. Beth was glad to leave it.

* * *

To be continued...


	8. Apex

**C h a p t e r E i g h t**

**A p e x**

It was obvious that Daybreak was concerned about her safety. Beth knew that that was the reason why Kotori was sleeping over at Beth's house that night. Eliza was a good witch and would be able to protect Beth during a fight, but Kotori gave them added protection. Unlike Beth, she could change her shape in order to protect herself and others. Beth wanted to be angry at Daybreak's deception, but found that she couldn't. It was nice to hang around her friend. In the end, Beth forgot about the danger and the past few days and was able to just have fun hanging out with one of her friends.

Somehow the subject of Nicolas was broached. Beth watched her friend's face closely when his name was mentioned. Her cheeks flushed pink and she looked a little ashamed of the subject. Shame was never something that Kotori had displayed before when Nick was around or mentioned. Beth arched an eyebrow, wondering at this new behavior.

"He asked about you, you know," she told Kotori. Beth was laying on the carpet, her knees tucked under her chin. Kotori was above her on the bed, her feet hanging in the air as she reclined on her stomach, her long hair just barely broaching the cerulean carpet as she leaned over the edge of the bed. Her dark eyes were interested in the subject.

"He did? When?"

"The evening I was kidnapped. That was why he dropped me off second. He wanted to ask me how you felt about him. I didn't tell him, though. I told him he should ask you. It wasn't my place to say anything."

Kotori tilted her head. "You didn't feel bad that I didn't tell you that I liked him earlier, did you?"

She thought about the question earnestly. "No. Okay, at first I did. I mean, I _am_ your best friend. I'll keep your secret tell the grave, Kotori. But… it was your secret to tell. Just because I'm your best friend doesn't mean that you have to tell me everything. Sometimes people need to keep secrets to themselves—for the safety of others." And didn't Bethany know all about that!

She was staring at Beth appraisingly. Slowly a smile spread across her pretty face, hawk-like with intensity. The smile made her face more becoming. Underneath it, however, there remained the same Kotori had seen earlier. Kotori, Beth realized, had become confused and self-conscious in the time that Beth had been gone. Something had happened that was making Kotori reassess her world. She had lost the composure and pride Beth had so greatly admired before. Oh, she still possessed it—it still made her stand with perfect posture and hold her chin proudly, baring her teeth at the world and daring it to do her best—but the tenderness Beth saw normally directed at her was suddenly more pronounced.

"Something happened while you were gone. I'm not sure if it's something bad or something wonderful and miraculous. I'm a little ashamed to be telling you this, but… well, I went to go and visit Nick at the hospital when I found out what happened. They hit him pretty hard over the head with wood. He had a concussion, but you know vampires—they heal in no time when it's bashing damage, even if it _is_ from wood.

"He wouldn't let me take time off of school and help look for you. I wanted to circle the area and help, but… he told me no. So I disobeyed him and cut class for the first day to help them look. Nick was furious when he found out—started telling me that it was his responsibility because he was the leader of the team and he was supposed to watch out for us and that I was being reckless and he'd lose me too.

"It got pretty vocal. I think we made Roger and Alicia uncomfortable. I started yelling back that I could take care of myself and I had to help protect you because you were my best friend. He threatened to disband me from the team if I couldn't stay rational."

Beth allowed herself a small gasp. "He threatened to cut you?" Kotori nodded. Hugging her legs closer, Beth smiled cattily, enjoying the story. She wished she could have been there to see Nick's face when Kotori began yelling at him. "So what did you do?"

She laughed. It was a rich sound, and a little playful in the way she remembered the incident fondly. "I think I was so mad I didn't know what to say. I turned and marched out and slammed the door behind me so hard that I popped the doorknob off the door. After awhile though, I started to feel guilty. I still think that Nick was out of line for being so harsh on me, but he was trying to be sweet. He really was worried about losing me too. He felt like it was because he failed that you were kidnapped." She laughed, but there was a hint of bitterness to this one. "Just when I started hating him he had to go all noble on me. So I snuck out of the house and went to his place to apologize to him.

"I ended up staying awhile and talking to him. You should have seen him, Beth. He looked like crap. He's normally so composed, it's difficult to think of him as ever getting ruffled. Joking around and acting like a normal teenager, well, that's one thing. Can you imagine him looking frazzled, though? Or ill kept? Alicia had ordered him to go home and rest and he was laying on the couch channel flipping aimlessly.

"I apologized. He apologized for being the first one to start yelling. We ended up sitting on the floor in his living room, talking. I know that he asked you. He told me… eventually he told me, anyway. When he started telling me that he liked me, I think I could have skinned him alive. I felt mortified and just… just overwhelmed!"

Her jaw dropped again. Beth _hadn't_ expected Nick to take her advice so seriously. She had apparently underestimated his dedication and persevering work ethic. When Nick wanted something, he generally did everything in his power to get it. "He actually told you that he liked you?"

"Actually, I think he said something more like 'I ardently and devotedly love you'. I think he was trying to be sincere and emotional and overestimated the effect of Jane Austen on my heart. I looked more ready to bolt than to swoon into his arms the way he had expected."

"So what _did_ you do?"

Kotori pursed her lips. "Um…Well… to be honest… I think I tried to be evasive and called him a pedophile… as well as a few other choice phrases I should have been fired for using."

Beth winced. Nick probably wouldn't have taken that very well. He no doubt had been insulted. Age had been, after all, one of the things he was worried about. He had poured his heart out to Kotori and she been able to pick out on one of the few things that would have shattered his heart right away.

Suddenly the topic of conversation wasn't as fun anymore. Nick was a good guy. He always tried to do the right thing. If there was a way he could have avoided falling in love with Kotori and developing feelings for her, he would have done it. That he disregarded the regulations and had admitted to it…

"How did he take it?" she asked quietly. Kotori wasn't smiling anymore either, recalling the way his face had crumpled when she reacted with rejection and revulsion, leaping away from him.

"Like I'd ripped his heart out from his chest and I was holding it in front of him gloating."

"That bad?"

"A thousand times worse than that, actually. I felt like I had betrayed myself too because that was exactly how I'd felt about him too. But… I didn't want to hear it. Not like that. I had always just fantasized him asking me out for pizza, or a mock hunt, not Jane Austen spouted at me while I was having tea with him on his living room floor!" She let out her captured breath so fiercely that wisps of her hair floated over each other like a midnight fog. "So I ended up saying something corny and apologizing again and sitting back down next to him and saying the one thing that I never wanted to tell anybody."

She didn't continue so Beth prodded her gently. "And that was…"

"That I was scared. That I was terrified." She lifted her eyes from watching her dark hair slide back into place to look at Beth. "I was in a panic that something bad was happening to you, and no one wanted to talk about it. I couldn't tell my parents because I was afraid I'd let something slip about Daybreak, and Nick was too busy looking to talk, and Goddess, Eliza! Eliza was a wreck. She tried going to work at the hospital and they sent her back because she was making mistakes. They said she was more of a danger than a help, even though they understood why. I don't ever want to see Eliza like that again. We were all sacred shitless that the next time we saw you, you were going to be dead."

She paused and licked her lips, stalling. She felt silly admitting all of this to Beth. Kotori really wanted nothing more than to forget those days where Beth was missing. She wanted to forget how much of a wreck she had been and the cold fear that had numbed her mind and body—until she saw Michael Richmond and then the fear changed to searing hate when she recalled his statements about how all the shifters needed to be found dead. Kotori didn't know how she had kept herself from ripping off his head whenever he was around.

She smiled, however, when she recalled what came next in her story. "And then he reached out and touched my cheek gently…" Her voice softened, as if she were reliving it. "And he told me that… that was why he always picked on you and tried harder than anything to keep _you_ safe. He said that he wanted to protect the thing that was dearest to me, the thing that would cause me the most pain if anything ever happened to it… and the thing most dearest to me was you."

Their eyes met. Beth could keep her cheeks burning. Kotori's gaze was intimate, her dark eyes so deep that they seemed more black than brown at the moment. For one terrible moment, Beth imagined those eyes in Kaneonuskatew's face and she had a sudden thrill, imagining that intimacy between them. With Kotori it made Beth uncurl from her position to join the friend on the bed, snuggling up to her.

The bird-shifter wrapped her arms around Kotori's slim body, holding the smaller girl close to her. It was the kind of thing she'd longed to do since Kotori had learned Beth had come home, safe and sound. Kotori allowed herself to foolishly believe that so long as she held Bethany than no harm could come to the other girl. Beth hugged her back, wishing to believe it too. She didn't like the outside world, with all it's strange dangers. She knew now that she couldn't protect herself from everything, and neither could her friends. But so long as they were together, then they could work as a team.

_So long as I'm near Kotori, Cain can't hurt her,_ she realized, tightening her grip on Kotori. _Cain would never hurt me. So long as I'm between them, Kotori is safe._

Kotori sniffled. When she spoke again, the delight in her voice sparked a frightening, deep-seated jealousy in Beth. They were so tightly intertwined that when Kotori spoke Beth could feel her friends' breath stir her hair. "And then, the next thing I knew, I was crying because I felt like finally, finally, someone other than you understood and accepted me. Mom and Dad never understand our relationship, Beth. How can they? They don't know that we learn, and play, and fight and bleed together. But Nick does."

Beth's hands tightened into fists as she held on to Kotori's pajamas. Yes, they had bled together—on more than one occasion. "Blood sisters," she reminded Kotori. Both of them only children and looking for an acceptance and understanding that neither's parents had been able to give had found it in each other. They had thought of themselves as blood sisters since their first battle.

"Blood sisters," Kotori reaffirmed. She lifted a hand and began to stroke through Beth's hair. "Nick was completely frazzled when I burst into tears. I would have been too. Angry one minute, and bawling the next… and then I kissed him, Beth."

"You what?"

"Kissed him. It must have felt horrible for him. I mean, I probably smelled of salt and I was sniffling and crying… and then… oh, Beth, _Beth_!" Her friend's voice was melting with happiness. Beth kept a tight reign on her anger, hiding her face under Kotori's chin as they snuggled on the bed, so Kotori couldn't see it. "Beth, Nicolas is my Soulmate."

For a moment Beth didn't think at all. She just stared at the fabric of Kotori's shirt. Slowly, however, he head rose. "What?" Kotori repeated it for her. Beth pushed away from Kotori, propping herself up with her elbows. "But… how do you know?"

Her dark eyes were dancing and she sighed wistfully. Beth could understand why, but she still felt it sounded strange coming from Kotori, who had never really had an interest in boys before… or at least had never shown one. "When we kissed… I could hear and read all of his thoughts and memories. Everything felt kind of warm and fuzzy and he could hear all of my thoughts. And then, there was… like this sudden _jolt_ and we could see each other—_really_ see each other, Beth. I could see how scared he was about telling me and his worries and his thoughts about me and that he was so happy that there was this connection between us now. And he could see all of my worry and I was so mad because he was seeing parts of me that I denied, even from myself. He could see my worry and my doubt and everything in me that I ignore daily.

"And in that place—that strange, pink other place where we were just Nicolas and Kotori—he took me in his arms and he hugged me and just… I don't know! It was like he poured all of his love into me and I could feel my self doubt about myself evaporating because I suddenly knew who I was.

"But even though all of my self-doubt was gone, there was still the fear and he couldn't erase that. We both had it. I mean—we're Soulmates now. We know about it. If we didn't, if we had never kissed, then maybe we could have had someone else. Maybe I could have learned to forget about him and marry some Japanese shifter the way my parents want, but I can't now. I mean, I can't do that and be happy. No one would ever understand me the way that he does now, and no one knows Nick the way that I know him."

She paused in her story, thinking and chewing on her bottom lip as she worried. Beth was staring at her friend. Her face was sad, but Kotori was writing it off to Beth knowing that there was someone out there new who knew her best friend more than she did. Kotori patted Beth's hand as it lay on her cheek. Her dark hair was fanned out behind her on the bed.

"You'll always be my best friend, Beth. You know that. No one could ever come between us."

"I know," Beth nodded. She was choosing her words carefully. "I just… I'm jealous, Kotori. I wish that I could know my Soulmate was well as you know yours."

Kotori smiled. "You're a good person, Beth. Fate would never risk being mean to you. I'm sure it's just karma, Beth. You're a good person, so you'll meet him and it will be romantic and you two will live happily ever after."

Beth didn't dispute the idea so Kotori assumed she accepted it. After a moment, Kotori spoke again, and her voice wavered with uncertainty. "Beth," she said slowly, "what would you suggest I do? I don't know anymore. You know I've never liked lying to Mom and Dad about Daybreak. They should know about Nicolas, but I'm even more worried that they'll reject him. Maybe they'll say that we're lying and we're not Soulmate or they'll think it's a trick… And what do I do about aging? I want to grow up more, but Nick won't ever age. Would it be better to keep aging and die and leave him all alone or for him to change me and to have forever together until something happens…"

She knew what she wanted to say and desperately wished that she could say it. She wished she tell Kotori the problems with _her_ Soulmate, that way Kotori's wouldn't seem so bad. Neither did Beth have any advice to give. Telling Kotori to tell her parents that she loved a white vampire and had been a member of Daybreak for years was liable to cause just as much trouble as keeping the lie going. So Beth just held her friend and listened, wishing there was _something_ she could do to stop the tears falling from Kotori's cheeks.

* * *

Beth's second period was history class. They were just closing the Great Depression with a review for an upcoming test and then they were going to be starting World War Two. There was a new boy in her class, sitting a few rows ahead and to the left of Beth. She saw him only briefly as she walked into the room, but he looked cute. Native American, he had dark, tanned skin and jet black hair, which he wore up in little spikes.

Her mind traveled while she let her hand take notes. It felt weird being back in school. It felt since she was trying to force herself back in school. It felt since she was trying to force herself back into normalcy and she couldn't fit into it anymore. What did it matter about the Great Depression or how credit helped to create it? There was a war coming, on two fronts now, and Armageddon coming, and these people weren't aware of it yet. She felt pity for them, worrying over things which no longer matter, and was angry at them too. _Why_ didn't they know? Why did _she_ have to know?

She couldn't wait for the day to be over. Class was dragging on. Beth just kept taking notes, set on automatic. The teacher was asking questions. Beth's hand froze, poised over her notebook when she heard Miss Stein call out a name. The new boy's hand was in the air.

"Yes, Cain?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what the answer is to your question, Miss Stein, but I was wondering if perhaps you would be kind enough to answer a question for me."

Miss Stein at first appeared almost affronted that one of her students had lifted their hand to speak and openly admitted ignorance only to ask a question. She leaned her back against her desk at the front of the class. Miss Stein decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, expecting some kind of a ploy. "Go ahead, Cain."

"I went home last night and read the chapter on the Great Depression so I would prepared for the upcoming examination this Friday. I found, however, that I did not care about the chapter. There was nothing in it which related to me."

Some of the other kids in class were nodding, having felt the same way. Some of the other students, the shy ones, were looking pleased and appreciative that somebody was finally saying something about it. "How did the Depression impact the reserves? Were Natives, as a working minority, able to find jobs the same way women were, because they were willing to work for long hours at low pay just to survive? How _did_ they survive through the Depression?"

Beth felt completely frozen? She couldn't see his face, and the voice was different, but she knew that mind, that tone of speaking. Kaneonuskatew! What was he doing in her school? What was he doing in her _classroom_?! Her heart pounded in her chest, and yet she was hoping, rather desperately, that he would turn and look her way. She was still scared of him, but she knew enough about him to figure out, as she sat in class, that part of why he was there was to protect her. It was easier to protect her from danger if he was right there with her.

The teacher appeared impressed and nervous all at the same time. Miss Stein went pale with nervous shame. "I'm afraid I don't know that, Cain. But I'll try to look it up for you. Now, back to the lesson. What events occurred to end the Great Depression?"

No one answered as the bell rang. Stein's voice was almost drowned out by the sound of chairs squealing as they slid along the floor and books slammed shut. "Don't forget to study for the test! Tomorrow we start the time period of 1939 to 1946. Please read the introduction to chapter nine in your textbooks. Cain, a moment?"

She pulled him aside. Beth was still in the room, packing up and she could hear the conversation with her acute senses. "I'm sorry that I didn't have an answer for you," she was saying. "I don't have an answer for everything. I'm a teacher, not a robot. I'd like to encourage you to ask more questions like that. That is what historians should do—but I dislike being put on the spot. I don't want to be discredited as a teacher. I'm still new. When you have a question like that, please ask me after class. Then I can go home and research it and try to incorporate it into the lesson plan for the following day. I want to teach _all_ my students. Understand, Caine?"

He nodded. "I shall try to be more respectful." Beth was walking from the room. He nodded courteously to the teacher and then hurried after Beth, sliding up next to her in the crowded hallway. That close, Beth wondered why the scent didn't give him away earlier. He smelled the same. "I think I enjoy history class," he said, smiling.

"Good for you." Her voice was sharp. She turned down the hallway, heading to her locker. "You seem smart enough in it. Are you here just to keep an eye on me, Cain?"

"No. I'm here to learn. I was told one comes here to learn. If I am to fight these people, I must know who they are and of what they are capable. What I'm having trouble understanding is arithmetic. However, my teacher tells me that you have a talent for it. He suggested I ask you for further teaching."

Beth stopped at her locker, laughing. Her fingers effectively spun the lock. "I don't think so, Cain. Help you learn…" She stopped suddenly. The hallway seemed too crowded. She scanned the crowd, looking for familiar faces. "You… you're here _alone_?"

"No. Fala has joined me, much to my chagrin. Learning would be much more pleasant if I didn't have to hear her complaining whenever I return home." His eyes were hazel in this form, but they were still closed with the deep, intriguing mask. He stared at Beth. "Would you like to know what the best part of school is?"

"What?" She pulled her math text out of the locker after throwing her history stuff in there. Beth smiled, sticking her pencil behind her ear and leaned her hand on the door of her locker. "The joy of cafeteria cooking?"

"Hardly. It's getting to see you every day."

Beth froze again. He'd whispered it in her ear. Just his body being that close to her made her skin feel warm and a little fuzzy. She hated how he made her feel safe. It was unsettling and wrong because, unless Cain left Mac, he was her enemy. She wasn't supposed to let her guard down.

"Who's the new guy?" Beth jumped at Kotori's voice, slamming the locker door closed. Kotori was staring quizzically at Cain. Slowly, she extended the hand in greeting. She knew something was going on between the two of them. "I'm her best friend, Kotori."

Beth winced, wondering what Cain was going to introduce himself as. He smiled charmingly at Kotori and shook her hand. "My name is Ryan Cain. Everyone and their dog is named Ryan though. Please, call me Cain. It will avoid confusion that way. I would hate for someone like Beth to call out my first name and draw unwanted attention to herself."

Kotori lifted an eyebrow. "Someone like Beth?"

"Yes. Someone pretty. Pretty girls need to be quiet and hidden if they want to remain attracting unwated attention. That's how Beth gained my attention. She spoke raw spitfire to me—and did it well." Beth was silent, her blood from her blush closing her throat. Kotori itched her nose. Kotori was picking up his scent. Her eyes scanned his body, looking for a foxglove sign. Kotori pursed her lips when she didn't see anything. Her voice dropped lower. "Shifter?" He nodded, smiling innocuously.

"Well, well!" Michael passed by, snickering with friends. "Another animal in our school. Which one do you like more, new boy?" He darted over to lean on Cain. "I can arrange for a meeting, if you wish. A big strapping lad like you… You want adventure, right." He slapped Cain's shoulder. "How about I give you both of them? After all, you people marry sisters, don't you? They're close enough for sisters… kissing cousins, if you will. Why, you can even get them both together for your own entertainment."

Beth was gritting her teeth in anger. Kotori was gripping her books to keep from lashing out, hugging them close to her chest and accidentally making them look more prominent. Michael eyed them and then let his eyes wander to Beth, meeting her eyes brazenly.

"Let me tell you, my friend. I've had them both. I'm not sure which one was the worst conquest. Kotori's so skittish she kept flapping to get away and I had to lash her down." Kotori growled and Beth grabbed her shoulder to keep her from jumping on Mike. She could feel her connection to Kaneonuskatew humming. He was angry, but nothing showed on his face. "But Beth—she wanted it. She just went flat on her back and welcomed me in. She knows her place."

Beth dropped her book to grab Cain's arm as he tried to lash out. Her grip was tight, and the cloth kept the link from opening up. "He's not worth it, guys. Besides, we're going to be late for class."

Cain stooped to pick up Beth's books for her. He kept close to the two girls as they walked away from Michael. They were going to be late for class. _How often do you interact with him?_ he asked. He sent the question through the Soulmate link. Apparently he had learned that his dragon-voice was a little loud.

"Every day," she whispered back.

He paused. The link still vibrated with anger. _Him I would have no trouble eating._

Beth smiled. "Neither would I."

Apparently they could agree on something after all.

* * *

School was going to be torture, and Kaneonuskatew was looking forward to it. School had just ended and already he was looking forward to the next day so he could see Bethany again. He sat in the empty science classroom, watching students mingling in the schoolyard laid out beneath him. With some difficulty he was able to pick out Kotori and Bethany. They were walking towards a car where a red-headed vampire stood waiting for them.

"How can you stand the stench of living among this filth in this façade?" Fala asked, walking into the room. She shut the door with her hip, slamming it. With a dramatic sigh she draped herself over his shoulder. "Did you see the slop they were serving in the cafeteria? What happened to _real_ food? I'm hungry, Cain."

"Uh-huh." He watched her car pull away and he wondered who the red-head had been."

"We," she purred, leaning her head down to lick his ear enticingly, "should go out hunting tonight. We should hunt humans."

Immediately he thought of Michael. He would have no qualm about that, but he didn't know where the lamia was. Kaneonuskatew didn't want to kill someone innocent. He turned back to Fala, pulling her down into his lap. She hadn't gotten a new shape. Her normal human form was suitable, and she enjoyed flaunting it off. Cain had to admit she was beautiful, but he was holding her intimately only to work on spinning his web.

"We will hunt together tonight, but we will hunt for animals. You and I. Soon, we will hunt for humans, once we are prepared for their response. For now, we will stick to animals."

"It will be a sneak attack! We'll strike quickly; give them something to fear!"

"No. First we should gain more allies. You wish to return to your real body, don't you, my Queen?" She nodded, her dark eyes shinning when she heard 'my Queen'. "Then we will fly tonight. We will fly over the reserves. We will slowly tell our people that their gods have returned. We must watch and learn when we know who to attack. Only then we will make our move."

* * *

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Kotori asked.

"It's like I told you and Nick today. I can't start regaining my life if Daybreak is coddling me. I don't want to forget what happened to me because I want to learn from it, but I do want to be able to relax enough that I can go to sleep at night without feeling ill. I can't be normal if Daybreak is going to be baby-sitting me."

There was a moment of silence the other end of the line. When Kotori spoke again Beth could tell she was smiling. "If you do get lonely, you could call up Ryan Cain and ask him to come over and spent the night with you."

"Kotori!"

"I think he likes you," she chuckled. "Did you see him when Michael came around? He looked ready to tear him limb from limb. I tell you, Beth, if there's a furious she-dragon out after your blood, then that's a man you want on your side."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes," she agreed. If only that were as easy as Kotori thought!

"He's cute too. I don't want you to think I've gone all boy-crazy suddenly, Beth. I just want you to see an ally when it comes around. Do you think he's a Daybr…. Hi, Mom!" Her voice dropped. "My parents just got home. I'll see you tomorrow at school, okay?"

"Yeah. 'Night, Kotori." Both girls hung up the phone. Beth reclined back on her bed, staring at the open science textbook. She pulled it close to do homework when she heard something tapping on the window. A great-horned owl sat on the window sill, tapping on the pane of glass with his beak. It was Beth's curiosity which made her open the window more than anything.

The owl fluffed his feathers proudly and stepped back. A flower lay on the windowsill for her. Beth stared at him. It felt strange to think that this owl was her Soulmate. He tilted his head at her and awkwardly bowed, pushing the flower towards her. She picked it up. It was Indian Paintbrush. Sitting atop a long, thin stalk was a small, red-orange flower. Beth loved it. They looked so pretty in pictures, dots of colors. They were always so bright and cheerful. The curiosity was that they grew in Ontario. He'd traveled halfway across Canada to get her a single flower.

If he was toying with her, Beth knew she was losing. She had to keep telling herself that wouldn't be nice to her if she wasn't her Soulmate—but he'd been nice to Kotori in the hallway, and courteously to Miss Stein, who was both human and white. He'd consoled a lamia Japanese girl in science class when she had started crying over her dissection, sobbing about an educational system which callously disregarded the rules of her Buddhist religion in the name of Academia. He'd become her science partner and had cut the frog for her, saving her from becoming involved in the messy business. He wasn't just being nice to her because she was his Soulmate. He was being nice to her because he was nice and she'd barely given him the time of day.

"Okay," she sighed. "I'll teach you math. Do you have some time now? I can start now." He nodded and spread his wings, silently gliding into the bedroom and landing on the back of the chair sitting at her desk. "Stay in that shape. My Mom'll kill me if she knew I had a boy in my bedroom."

She took a seat at the desk, opening up her math textbook. He leaned over and preened her hair for her with his beak, making her smile. She tilted her head, leaning into it. It felt nice. Quietly, so that she wouldn't wake her mother, she began to teach him.

* * *

To be continued...


	9. Decline

**C h a p t e r N i n e**

**D e c l i n e**

Beth was certain that something was wrong with Cain the following day. He didn't seem like himself. In class, when the teacher announced a hold on the agenda for a lecture about Native Americans during the Great Depression to satisfy Cain's answer, he didn't nearly look as pleased as he should have. He still looked interested, but underneath it there was this kind of hopelessness, like it didn't matter anymore. Science class was just as bad.

At lunch Beth spotted Fala. The dragon had amassed a following of males and they argued over who got to sit beside her at the cafeteria tables. Beth also noticed that she didn't eat anything. When Cain walked by, Fala tried to get him to join. He walked over to them, leaned down, and they had a muted conversation. She was smiling through the whole thing; in the end, Cain looked furious. He shook his head no and walked back out of the cafeteria.

Fala hadn't seen Beth yet. She excused herself and hurried after Cain, escaping the female dragon's notice. She didn't see Cain in the hallway. She knew she could follow the connection between them to find him, but she still didn't like touching it. She didn't want to get drawn any closer to Cain than she had to. Beth chided herself. _Then why are you going to go and talk to him?_

_Because_, she answered herself back. _He's nice and I want to know what's wrong with him. I can't accept him as my enemy. Not yet._

She followed his scent instead. It led outside. He was sitting in the back yard of the school, on a small incline lined with bleachers, leading down to the football team. A grade eleven class was busy playing rugby in the crisp weather. They were too busy playing to even notice that there was someone sitting on the bleachers.

He wasn't watching them, though. He had a history book spread on his lap and he was staring at it. Bethany slowly climbed the bleachers and sat next to him. She leaned over to see what he was looking at. The black and white photograph was familiar. It was Auswitch. She didn't ask about the picture right away. "What's the matter with Fala?"

"Read a newspaper lately, Beth? A body was found this morning. They rushed to get the story out on the front page cover." He breathed in deeply and sighed. "Fala has been killing humans already. The first time was a group of campers she discovered. That was when we were still in the mountains. Last night is was a man who accosted her on the street; she lured him down an alleyway and then ate him. He was a Native, Beth. He was one of the very people I was called back to protect and I failed him. I'm already failing at protecting people."

"She killed while you were over at my house…" He nodded. Beth's hands tightened on her knees. "Cain… you can't protect everybody. You know that, don't you?"

"I know that, but that doesn't make me any less responsible for the lives I fail to save. It also makes me worried. How can I stop Fala if she's doing this? Human flesh… it makes us stronger, Bethany. I dare say that had I not one more horn than she has, she'd be stronger than me now. As it is, right now we're probably equally matched. A week or so, she'll easily overpower me were we to fight."

Beth was silent at first. "_Are_ you going to fight?" she asked slowly.

"I don't know." He leaned back in the bleachers, leaning his head against the wood of the seat above him. "We're partners, but I want to control her. I can't stop her from killing humans if she's stronger than I am. I can't become stronger than she is without killing humans as well. It's an em… em… a draw. I need… I need to kill, Bethany. I need to kill humans if I'm to direct this rebellion the way I see fit, where we could all live in harmony the way we once did. But I have my own oaths. I will not harm anyone innocent. I kill and consume only when they breach our laws."

She didn't say anything. She knew where he had to go to feed. Jail. Beth shoved those thoughts deep. Cain might be blocked from reading her thoughts from telepathy, but there was no block on the Soulmate link. She blinked innocently, playing dumb and sensitive. "You shouldn't be telling me this. Daybreak could use it for its advantage, knowing that you're weaker than Fala is. I told them that she's the bigger threat, but if they knew that they could take you down first, they may just do so even though you're not the biggest threat to them."

"Yes," he slowly agreed. "I shouldn't tell you this…"

Immediately she felt bad. There she was being callous again, thinking only of her feelings and not of his. He needed a friend right now, but she couldn't give him one, not when dealing with the matter of Fala. She inched closer to him. "You can tell me all about the book in your lap though. Why have you been staring at it for so long? It's… It's not Fala that's been making you seem so upset today, is it?"

"No. It isn't. When I left your place last night, I went back home and did my homework. The introduction wasn't enough. I read the entire chapter." His lips sank into a tight line. He looked tired. For the first time she noticed that there were bags under his eyes. That was probably why his emotions were so close to the surface. He was too tired to keep them in check. "How could people do that to others, to their kin? Gas chambers, shootings, rapes, murders… I thought our world was bad. In our world, dragon killed dragon on a regular basis. My hands are stained with the children of Fala's people, or with the northern dragons, or the dragons that lived to the south of us in the land now called the United States. But there was never such treachery. We showed mercy as well. This… this was not done out of territory or protection the way our wars were. This was done out of hate. I… I cannot understand such a hate. How? Why? Bethany, what happened to these people that made them hate so much?"

"I… I don't know, Cain," she answered slowly. "I really don't know. If you are interested though, I can give you books to read. Maybe you can find the answer there. I'd suggest the Diary of Anne Frank and Mein Kampf. Get both sides of the story, you know?"

He was nodding, taking her words into consideration. He slowly smiled at her. "Thank you for being concerned for my welfare." He reached out. She flinched away when his hand came near her hands, but he didn't touch her skin. That was never his goal. He placed his hand on her kneecap. The touch was warm and friendly.

Bethany suddenly felt like crying. It was actually physically painful to be so close to him and not to touch him, to see inside that mind. She was reminded of how terribly lonely her mind was. She was glad to see that he wasn't taken aback by her flinch.

"You're a good person, Bethany."

She smiled back at him.

* * *

"I'm worried about Fala," Emile said, walking into the bedroom to lay down next to her Soulmate on the bed. Everything went slightly fuzzy and warm when she pressed her naked body against his. "She's going to become uncontrollable. Mac… the way that everything was done… the way that everything's happened… I'm starting to question that we're still right." 

He wrapped his arm around her, kissing her sunny hair. "I am too, Sweetheart. I am too."

"It's not just you or I. I know Zhi Niao is and so's Gawain. I think we need to talk with Kaneonuskatew. I think we need to know what he thinks. He's a member of this team now. If we can take Fala down, I think we should before she's too strong for us all to handle. We let a monster loose into this world Mackenzie, and we have to put her back. She kills indiscriminately. This isn't what we wanted. If we are still going to bring back the dragons, we need to learn more about it. We need to wake up Cain's people, we need…"

The rest of her words were lost as she slowly began sobbing. Her shoulders shook and she buried her face into the pillow beside her. Mackenzie sat up in bed, shaken by the sound of her crying. "Babe… Sweetheart…" He could feel what was wrong through the Soulmate connection. He could feel her fear. It was palpable. "Hey, babe, I'm afraid too. It's okay to be afraid. I'm scared shitless of Fala. There's something off about that chick…"

She shook her head. Her blond curls bounced to and fro. "It's not that… it's not _just_ that, Mackenzie…"

She collapsed back into scared tears. He could do little to console her. Mackenzie's long fingers brushed her hair, knowing how much she liked it. "You're afraid that Fala is going to turn on us. That she's going to kill us. That… that she'd going to kill you for being half human, like Beth." Her hair bounced even more furiously as she nodded yes, terrified. Mackenzie slowly reclined back on the bed, holding her tightly. "That's why you called in sick today at work… so we could stay at home and make love… you wanted to do it while you could." Again, her golden hair bounced, forming almost a glowing halo around her head in the dim lights of the room.

His arms tightened around her. "I'll talk to Cain," he promised her. "I won't let that happen."

* * *

"Nick can't come to pick us up," Kotori said, walking out of the school with Beth. She was smiling; her day at school had been wonderful, while Bethany's had left her with a headache. "Meeting. Want to walk? It's a beautiful fall day and I'd love the exercise before all the raining season begins." 

Beth smiled at the offer, but looked up at the sky dubiously. There were already rain clouds over head, making everything seem grey-tinged. It looked as if the raining season was going to start at any minute. "I guess so, Kotori. So, how was first period today?"

The other girl arched an eyebrow. Their fellow students ran around them, laughing, some of them throwing footballs, the girls throwing sultry looks hoping to have more attention paid to them than to the football… "It wasn't bad. A little boring, but you know me. I can't stand Shakespeare. I think though that after hanging out with Nicolas a little bit more that I could stand it in certain circumstances… like if it was Nick dressed in drag on stage quoting Juliet in a false soprano."

Both girls giggled at the idea. Kotori shrugged her knapsack over her shoulder. The sounds of the school were fading behind them as they walked steadily away from it. "I don't know," she sighed. "I think this whole love thing changes people and I'm starting to get a little bit worried. I don't want to be the kind of girl who writes our names in binders and circles it with hearts and flowers and stuff."

"Don't worry. I won't let it get that far. I'll knock some common sense back into you if it does."

"Thanks," Kotori smiled. It suddenly fell short and she stopped, looking around at their surroundings. Her eyes scanned the area around them: the school connected on to a park. With the dark clouds overhead, the school yard was deserted. No sane parent wanted to take their kid to the park when it looked as if it might start to thunderstorm at any moment.

Thunder had never mattered much to either girl. When they had been younger they had liked to strip down to shorts and tank tops and dance around in the rain, seeing who could splash muddy water the furthest. They would play until their noses ran and their fingers were frozen, and then cuddle inside under a blanket, drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows. What concerned Kotori was that her senses had picked up on something that Beth's had missed. Beth fell silent when she saw that Kotori was in hunting mode, her slanted eyes narrowed as she searched with her mind more than her sight. Beth turned in the opposite direction, keeping Kotori's back covered.

"What do you smell?" she muttered.

"Vamps."

Beth bristled in anger. It didn't take three guesses to guess who it was going to be. She reached back to grab Kotori's hand. They were on the sidewalk of the park, but the school ground was separated by the park ground by a small, thin, and dense line of trees. If they got dragged in between those coniferous pines, then no one would be able to see them. And no one would be able to hear them.

"Come on. We need…"

Her voice was suddenly cut off when a shape lunged out from the trees. It struck Kotori so hard that she was flung on to her back. The math textbook in her hand flew out to the street. Beth was still holding on to Kotori and was pulled down with her friend. The rough surface of the sidewalk scratched her arm. It stung and bled, but it wasn't serious.

Before the girls could recover, hands grabbed their shoulder and covered their mouths, dragging them into the tree line. Beth felt Kotori's hand pulled from her roughly. Her eyes were open: she could see. She knew it would be Michael. She hadn't expected the three men with him, his cronies: two more vampires and a witch. Michael was holding down Kotori as the girl struggled with the aid of one of his vampire friends. The other vampire was holding Bethany to the ground, and the witch was watching.

"Take them in deeper. We don't want the thrashing to get anyone's attention."

Her captor picked her up. Beth struggled across the arm bar over her chest that kept her press close to the vampire and the arm over her mouth. She kicked, but they didn't land. She didn't weigh enough for her struggling to do much good. Kotori, unlike Beth, was dragged by the two vampires. The witch kept a spell on her to keep her from crying out. They carried them for what seemed like forever. Michael was chatting amiably about how the strip connected to woods beyond the school's baseball diamond. The woods were supposed to have acted as a buffer to give the school some privacy from the strip mall on the opposite side of the block.

He dropped Kotori, letting the other vampire hold her down. Kotori was still struggling to get up. Mike kicked her in the side to make her lie still. Her eye shut with pain and Bethany felt her stomach lurch at the side of Kotori curling up on her side with pain. Michael whipped around to point a finger at the vampire. "Keep her quiet!"

"Sorry, Mike."

He fell on Kotori, straddling her. His lips were pulled back into a smile, revealing even, white teeth that were a little too sharp to be human. His brown eyes were glittering with uncontained happiness and sick, twisted enthusiasm. Kotori was still struggling. He grabbed her by the chin.

_No!_ Beth began fighting harder. Kotori was pale and furious, kicking with all her might. Her skin was etched with feather-patterns. She was losing control of her shape, her body trying to take on a half-and half-shape that most shifters found the most comfortable. Beth opened her mouth to scream only to feel the vampire's palm press tighter, his skin entering her mouth. His skin tasted salty. Beth bit down as hard as she could and the vampire yelped in pain. She could taste thin, coppery blood on her tongue before his hand pulled away. Beth dropped to the ground.

"She bit me!"

He hit the back of her head—hard. Bethany went tumbling into Michael, toppling him off of Kotori. The shifter saw her opportunity and automatically swung up her legs, hitting the man who held her in the head with her kneecap. There was a heavy thud and then they went tumbling into the grass. Kotori landed on the ground and received a punch in the cheek for her carelessness. With an angry roar she kept rolling and landed a punch back on his cheek, followed by her elbow as she drew the punch back. Kotori struck hard and fast and then moved back out.

Beth wasn't the fighter. She managed to catch herself as she fell. She was a good tumbler, capable of taking hits and still remaining capable of defending herself, but she wasn't very good at punching. She slid on to her feet, just dodging out of the way as the vampire she'd bitten rushed her. He ran into the tree behind her instead, but Michael had taken the opening to tackle her to the ground. His hand closed around her neck. Immediately Beth scrambled to pull his hand away. She was careless, leaving her guard down as she tried to get that hand off of her neck. She couldn't stand the idea of choking out or losing consciousness—God! What would they do to her if she lost consciousness!?

He landed a strike to her temple. Her world began to fade to black, but somehow she managed to hang on tenaciously to that grey world. She peeled one hand from Mike's to defend himself as he pulled back for another blow at the same time that her legs came up, forcing him away. A jab to his chin made his teeth rattle obviously and the hand fell away. Someone grabbed her hair and pulled back her neck. It was the witch. Cold metal lay flat against her skin: a switchblade.

She went still without being told. She didn't want to see how much damage he could do. There was no more sound of Kotori fighting, only her sobbing. The witch forced Beth to turn. Kotori was hunched over on the ground. Small feather clung from her hair. They were all that remained of the partial transformation. Her arm hung at an odd angle as she sheltered it close to her body. The vampire above her, his face dotted with bruises, looked nervous.

"I'm sorry, Mike! I didn't mean to! She just… her bone're hollow—like a bird's. I hadn't expected that to happen."

"It happens." The black lamia shrugged it off, kneeling to examine Kotori. He pushed her on her back on the grass. "Hold down the good arm. Only touch the other one if she starts fighting back. She'll scream real good and I don't want to attract attention of a passersby."

"Get off of me!" Kotori found her voice and hollered her rage. Mike motioned to the witch and instantly Kotori's voice was gone—but still her lips moved and she fought, trying to shake Michael off of her. He grinned and pointed to the other arm. His companion grabbed it and pulled it down over Kotori's head. Her mouth opened in pain and tears leaked from her eyes. Mike took the opportunity to lean down and kiss Kotori.

Anger flared in Bethany. It was anger unlike anything she had ever known before. Her friend was in danger and she knew exactly what was going to happen to her afterwards when they were done with Kotori. There were other reasons besides her half-brother to explain why so many shifter minority females disappeared—there was Michael and his friends.

No, part of that anger knew what was going through Kotori's mind. There was the fear and frustration and anger, and the sadness. Kotori had found her Soulmate, and now something that was supposed to be reserved only for him was going to be taken and abused by someone else, and Kotori… she'd never be the same again.

A roar started deep within Bethany's stomach, working it way up. All she had was a knife pressed to her neck—what did it matter? What did it matter how much blood she lost? This was Kotori! This was her best friend! This was ice cream and soda pops and movies and laughter and love and she was _not_ going to see it defiled!

Beth spun so fast that the witch never saw it coming. She sank her teeth into his neck, forcing his body down under hears. Devin was shocked and came to try and help his friend as Beth let her instincts go and tried to rip his neck out. She felt arms on her, but it wasn't pulling her off. There was flesh caught between her teeth. She didn't seem to care. She didn't seem to care that he was screaming under her. Then the witch stabbed her. Pain shot through her body, freezing her momentarily. Devin, in that instant, was able to pull her free.

He hadn't been expecting her to suddenly stop resisting his attack. He put too much force into it. Beth felt her body pick up into the air as she was thrown aside. A tree came looming up at her. She was going to hit it, the same way that Devin had a moment before. But she'd die doing it. She'd break her neck.

But she never hit the tree. Warm hands cradled her and she landed against something hard—but much softer than a tree would have been. The men were looking up, and even Kotori seemed surprised, staring. Beth didn't need to look to see who it was. The Soulmate link that connected their minds was blazing with intensity, humming and pursing and churning wildly with anger. She could feel his need pounding into her, not burning hatred, but the need to protect. Loyalty. Defense. Honor.

God, she loved him.

His hands brushed her neck as he made sure she was all right. The link sparked to life, and she could feel his voice in her mind. For a moment, when his whispered words drifted over her confused world, she felt whole again, and then the connection vanished as he set her on the ground. His dark eyes were worried and scared. She followed their gaze to her side. The switchblade the witch had held was stuck in her side, jutting out between the lowest of her ribs. She stared at it as if trying to make sense of it.

_So that's what the fuzzy thing was…_

_Fuzzy thing?_ His voice was still there, even if his presence wasn't.

_Yes,_ she sighed, _it feels all fuzzy…_

_Shit._

Michael was standing up. Kotori spun around to kick the vampire in the head who still held her down. He launched himself at the dragon, intend on starting a fight. Cain was waiting for it, striking the vampire so hard that Michael went down on the ground hard and did not move for a long moment. The other two launched themselves on Cain as well, trying to protect their comrade. Bethany could feel his anger rising, letting it feel himself up with power.

Something low was stirring. She could feel it. It was rumbling, like a car getting closer. She forced herself to keep her eyes open, watching as Kaneonuskatew fought the three men, Kotori dealing with the last one… and holding her own. _Of course she is. She's a Night Worlder… and a good one._ Beth's thoughts felt warm and comfy. If it wasn't for the fuzzy feeling on the itch on her skin from her side, she could almost fall asleep.

Because of that, at first she attributed what she saw to her blood loss and shock. Cain was opening his mouth, and little spikes of black electricity seemed to be racing along his skin, leaping about from tooth to tooth inside his open mouth, and the roaring sound was getting louder, and Mike's eyes were widening at the sight of that mouth filling with black lightning, and the humming, buzzing sound was screaming in her ears, and Cain was yelling, ready to lash out, and…

"No!" She lurched from where he had placed her. Her side flared with anger that made her world go black again for a second before her vision returned, dotted with angry red dots. She threw her arms around his chest, under his arms, hugging him tightly. The black lightning spread to her body, snapping between the strands of her long hair. Dragon-magic tingled. "Don't do it, Cain. Don't do it."

"Sit down."

"No."

He didn't have time to argue. He snapped something to her, the meaning unmistakable, even if she didn't know the language. She let go of him just in time for him to block another attack. He was barely constraining his anger, and she knew that some of that anger was directed at her for having stopped him from using the black lightening. He caught Mike's second attack and held it. His other hand came down hard and fast. Mike howled when the bone snapped. Kaneonuskatew glanced at his shoulder to see if she had any objections. Beth nodded approvingly before letting herself slide back into the fuzzy, black-tinted world. She couldn't let him use his dragon-powers; it would blow his cover and Kotori would not take having been lied to very well. Daybreak would know if she ever found out.

Cain frowned and kicked Michael. The impact struck the kneecap, breaking it. He fell to his knees, held up that far only by the broken arm Cain still held in his hand. Long ago, when he had been able to carry weapons, he would have cut off the man's head to ease the suffering of his wounds. Instead, he reached into the man's mind and let off some of his power there. The teenage boy's head dropped, unconscious.

He felt no satisfaction. He had not punished the fool enough for what he had intended to do. He had wanted to make them all suffer, but Bethany's injuries, the injuries of her friends, and her obvious desire to keep this boy from dying made Cain eager to finish the fight.

He did the same to the other two and then heard the sound of a gun arming. The other vampire had been beaten into unconsciousness by the bird-shifter. He turned to see a red-headed vampire standing beside a sickly, naked looking maple, the weapon in his hands pointed at Cain's head.

"You."

The red head appeared confused. "Have we met before?"

"No, but I've seen you before. You know Bethany."

Kotori wearily stood up, limping a little. "Relax, Nick. This guy showed up and saved the day. We have to take Beth to the hospital." She bit her bottom lip anxiously, turning to gesture with her head where Beth lay on the grass. "She's been stabbed."

"Stabbed!?" Immediately the gun went down. He ran a hand through his short hair. "Fucking Jesus H. Christ almighty. I'm in a meeting and the next thing I know, there's you screaming at me through the Soulmate link and I come here: there's some strange guy with ninja-moves, Beth's been stabbed and you can barely stand up…" He pursed his lips, shoving the gun into the back of his jeans.

Cain relaxed. Apparently this was the Soulmate of the Japanese girl. In that case he wasn't a threat and didn't have to be removed. Cain decided he could not eat the red head—although when he had been in Bethany's room the night before and his scent had still lingered on her from being inside the white car Cain had wanted to rip the man in half. "High school's gotten harder, hasn't it?"

"This is hardly the time for joking, Nick." She was chiding, but there the faintest of smiles on her face, chasing away the tight lines of pain she was too young to have.

"I know, I know. Can you walk? I'll carry Beth."

Cain drew up taller. "_I_ will carry Beth."

Nicolas didn't look very happy. Kotori placed a hand on his shoulder. "Relax, Nicolas. Cain likes Beth. We're in class together. She'll be okay with him. We should call the cops or the ambulance or something on the other guys, though. They're still alive and may need medical treatment."

Cain could scarcely believe what he was hearing. "They tried to rape you both!"

"What?!" Apparently Kotori had failed to mention to her Soulmate just why she was so scared and crying for help. He whirled on Kotori.

"That's what they were trying to do?"

The dragon shrugged. "Read their minds. You have telepathy, vampire."

"Nick. The name is Nick."

"Whatever." He bent over and carefully picked up Beth's body. She was lighter than he had remembered and he wondered if she'd remembered to eat properly. Her face contorted with pain when she tried to wriggle closer to the comfort and warmth of his body and only made the knife move. "You have a white vehicle. We should take her to the hospital."

"Yes," Nick agreed, helping Kotori to walk. "I'll drive, you just keep Beth alive."

"On my honor."

* * *

To be continued... 


	10. Evening

**C h a p t e r T e n**

**E v e n i n g**

"How're you feeling?" Beth opened her eyes. She was laying in a hospital bed. Kotori was in the bed beside hers. Beth had known she was in a hospital. The smell of the astringent was making her nose itch. What she couldn't recall was precisely why she was in a –oh, yes. She'd been stabbed. "So I don't need to explain?" her best friend inquired, watching Beth's face pale.

"How bad was it?" Beth asked, pushing down the coarse, thin blankets and feeling her ribs. The area was still tender and sore. Hazy white spots of pain danced in her eyes when she touched it.

"The doctors said you were lucky. Your lungs weren't hit, and because both you and Cain had the foresight not to take out the knife, you didn't lose a lot of blood. There was some internal bleeding, but nothing bad. I thought I was going to faint when they took the knife out from you right in front of me, though…. I've seen a lot of things in my life, but nothing ever scared the shit out of me like that. They have you heaped up on a bunch of painkillers and antibiotics. We're both supposed to spend the night for observation. I don't know what happens tomorrow if they come in and check on us and find out we're further healed than we should be." She paused, looking around disgustingly. Her pert nose wrinkled at the smell. "I hate hospitals."

Beth agreed, nodding. "How are you doing, Kotori?"

She held up her cast so Beth could see the cast. Kotori was forcing herself to smile and her dark, beautiful eyes were dim with pain. "It's a clean break. The doctors set it and have me on painkillers. I guess this means I won't be flying any time soon. I never thought I wouldn't be able to fly, even if it will only be for a week or two. I feel so caged in here."

"It _is_ a hospital." She slowly lay back down in bed, curling her legs up to her chest. She felt lonely. When Cain had carried her, she'd been able to feel his thoughts pressing against hers even after she had passed out. They felt like the sun hitting her eyelids as she'd ride in cars, staring out the window with her eyes closed. She could feel the sun and the warmth pressing against her even though she was blind to it. They were the sweet promises of what she would see if she touched him when she was awake. They were whispered kisses and sweet, delicious exploration and discoveries… for both of them.

Now she was lonely again, longing for that mind. She reached for the connection inside herself, touching it gently. From his end she felt a bit of curiosity but nothing back. He was giving her free reign with it. Beth let it be, contented for now with knowing that he was safe.

"Cain's an amazing guy," Kotori said, stirring Beth from her thoughts. She faced her friend. "He brought you here and waited until he found out you'd be okay. Then he went back out to get the others. He said that you wouldn't forgive him if they died, because that was just the type of person that you were. Even Nick was completely against the idea of bringing them to the hospital, but Cain talked him into it."

Beth pursed her lips. Cain perhaps had her on too much of a pedestal. She wasn't a saint. She hadn't been stopping him from killing Mike and his friends; she'd just been trying to stop him from using his powers and exposing his true identity. She guiltily turned away from Kotori to hide her true feelings.

"I'm going to try to get some sleep." The bed shifted as Kotori lay down, drawing the covers up to her shoulders. From somewhere down the hall a respiration monitor beeped steadily. The sound was unfamiliar. "I don't know how much I'll be able to get, though… I hate hospitals."

* * *

Cain and Nicolas brought the men to the hospital. This time, they didn't bother to wait to see if they were okay. Cain nodded courteously to the vampire and left. Nick said that he was going to wait in the reception hall so he could be closer to his Soulmate. Cain felt jealous.

"She is close to you… your Soulmate?"

He had smiled. "Not as close as I like, but it's never as close as I'd like. She's young and needs free reign. I don't want her to get entangled in my life… though these days it seems like her life is hard enough as it is."

"Oh?"

"Yeah… the stuff that happened today, dealing with her parents, dealing with having a Soulmate that'll be trapped in the body of an eighteen year old until the coming of the goddamn Messiah, her best friend having gone missing, politics, fights at school, fights outside of school… Kotori and Beth have a hard life for teenagers. It's why I always try and smile and joke around them."

Cain stared at him, his face stoic. "I envy you, Rappaport. I've met my Soulmate. I've seen inside her mind, but I don't understand her nearly the way you understand Kotori. Not understanding her… at times it's almost painful. You're lucky that you were able to find yours in one of your friends. I found mine in one of my enemies, and the way she sees the world always interferes… but lately, I've been giving her arguments more thoughts. The older I get and the more aware of the dangers in this world, the more I keep thinking that there's too much fighting and maybe I should just give up."

"Give up as in side with your Soulmate?" Cain nodded. Nick leaned on whatever was closest—the wall of the hospital—and stuck his hands into his jean pockets. "Cain, I've recently found my Soulmate, so maybe it's not meant for me to give advice on the mater… but when two people are such complete opposites like that, maybe there's something to your words… but maybe you should keep making your arguments, too. You guys are supposed to balance each other out. If you give in and become exactly like her then you're going to be the same and it's going to be very boring. Even Soulmates need to have some opposition between them—any couple does. It's about finding the middle ground."

He reached over and slapped Cain on the back, leaning in close. His eyes were concerned, but not for him. "And tell Kotori or Beth that you're a taken man, will you? My darling Soulmate is guilt-ridden with the fact that she's no longer alone and is desperate to fix Beth up with someone who may be able to take the sting out of being alone. Unfortunately, she's targeted you."

His face was still smooth and emotionless. "Bethany has not been herself since she came back and learned Kotori has found you?" Nicolas nodded. "How has she been acting strangely?"

"Just… less happy than normal, lonely, a little bit more down to earth and realistic, sometimes almost hurtfully so. I don't want to say callous, but normally Beth has a sweet tact about her, and since she came back, it's been ripped away. Of course, that could have less to do with what happened to Kotori and more to do with what happened to Beth herself… but I'm talking too much. Remember, so far as Beth knows, you don't know what happened to her. We're keeping it under wraps… but seeing as how you seem to be Beth's friend, I thought you should know so you can tread carefully around her. I'm still her boss and I've still watched that girl grow up, and if you hurt her, I'm going to bring a building down on your head."

Both men smiled at each other in understanding. They'd marked out their territory, and Cain was contented with giving this strange, red-headed man care of Bethany… for now. When they were able to find this middle ground that Nicolas spoke of, he would claim Bethany from Nick's protection.

Unable to spend more time at the hospital, Cain nodded courteously to Nick and left. The red-head would make sure that no harm came to the two girls, and make sure their families came to check up on them. He headed home, knowing that he had homework to do and a lady-dragon to court. Without money, he was forced to walk home. Not that Cain minded—it gave him more of an opportunity to look at the human world up close and personal. By the time he got home, however, it was late.

Mackenzie opened the door as Cain approached it. His face looked almost ugly with simmering anger. "Downstairs. Basement. Now."

He didn't ask why. Cain shrugged and headed down to the basement. Only when he was down there did he take a seat in the wooden chair in the basement, sitting to face Mackenzie as the vampire paced with righteous fury. "Why the basement?"

"It's warded against scrying spells and has special dampeners on to keep all sound in here. This is where we kept Beth before we took her to the mountains." He noted that Kaneonuskatew became unsettled at that thought and slid out of the chair. "If Fala comes home, she won't be able to find you in here and she won't be able to hear us talk. Frankly, I don't want to piss that girl off. She's out of control, Cain. She's been killing humans ever since she was awakened. She was bragging about it to Emile this evening after school. She ate a whole family who was out camping when we were in the wilderness. On the second night it was a park ranger. The third night it was another park ranger, this one asleep on guard duty that she seduced outside so she wouldn't get blood everywhere.

"She kills indiscriminately. She kills too much!" The vampire paced towards Cain, gripping his arm tightly. "Do you know what she told Emile her favorite meal was? Do you? Children, Cain, _children_! She said it was like us eating veal. I'm a goddamn fucking vampire and even I don't think like that about children!"

"You were also once human yourself. Ask Emile. Perhaps it is different for lamias, or the environment that you grew up in. Today I encountered some vampires who probably were not above seeing even shifter children as tasty snack before bedtime. Every species has its fault."

The vampire was stronger than he seemed. His hands jumped out to grab the hem of Cain's shirt. At first the dragon had thought that Mac wasn't going to ask about the blood from the fight and holding Bethany's wounded body that had stained his shirt, but apparently the vampire had noticed it from the very beginning. He slammed Cain up against a wall. "And why are you late, Cain? How many people have you killed?"

"None."

The vampire's eyes were silver-blue, shifting in the subtle changes of the flickering basement light. His nose moved up and down and his grip on Cain's shirt tightened. "It's my sister's blood on you."

"Half-sister," he corrected. Apparently it was the wrong thing to do. He slammed him up against the wall again. Cain had had enough abuse. His form melted, becoming broader and tougher. The twenty-three year old Cain stared back at the vampire, looking down at him with an almost imperial expression. "Some men were attacking Bethany and her best friend. I helped to stop them but your sister was wounded in the process. She's at the hospital, recuperating."

"You haven't killed any humans?"

The dragon's dark eyes flashed with drunken desire when he thought of Michael and his friends. Oh, how he would love to kill them! "Not that I haven't met people that I would like to kill, but no, I haven't."

He released Cain, satisfied with the dragon's honesty. Although his face revealed nothing and was a superb mask for lying, Mackenzie believed that he was telling the truth and that he had not eaten any humans. "It must be hard for you," Mackenzie said, "to stomach the idea of eating a human being when your Soulmate is half human."

A low growling filled the room. Mac realized that the rumbling sound which was making the dust laying on the ground shake came from Kaneonuskatew the same time the dragon reached out and grabbed his throat. The vampire could see small, delicate wisps of black lightning jump over the dragon's skin—no. Not black; green. In the light of the room he could see that it was actually green; deep, emerald green that captured all light so it appeared black.

"What did you say?" The voice reverberated from the walls. In has gaping, snarling mouth Mac could see the emerald-black lightning leaping about from tongue to tooth.

He struggled to talk and found that he couldn't. There was too much pressure on his throat for his voice box to work properly. He switched to telepathy to speak. _I have a Soulmate too, Cain. I know what it's like. I started suspecting that you and Beth were Soulmates when we were still in the foothills because I saw how you looked at her. You never took your eyes off of her. I heard it every time you said her name because it was the way I'd say Emile's name when I first found her. I only ever suspected._ He laughed telepathically inside the dragon's head. _It was your reaction that confirmed it._

"I'd not be so quick to judge and laugh, Mackenzie. One jolt from my mind and I could blast you away to leave nothing but a shell behind." The grip around his neck tightened. Cain wanted to make sure that Mackenzie was absolutely certain of who was the stronger being. "Why did you feel the need to bring up my Soulmate?"

_Because she's part of the reason why you haven't been eating humans, isn't she? Let me down, Cain._ The dragon released his grip and set Mac back down on the floor. The vampire rubbed his neck to ease the pain in his throat, coughing to clear his voice box. "Is Fala stronger than you are now?"

His dark eyes stared suspiciously at Mac. He didn't like answering the question. "If she's been eating as much as you say… yes. It would be an equal fight. I'd only need two good shots to render her powerless, but all I'd need to is to let my guard down three times and I would be in that same situation. Fighting her when the outcome is that close is not something I'd prefer to do. Horn for horn, yes, she's stronger."

"You're a three-horned dragon?"

"Yes."

Mackenzie seemed uneasy with that information. "If you started eating humans, would you be stronger?"

Now an eyebrow arched. His suspicion was heightening. "Yes."

The vampire began pacing again. His hand rubbed his throat and then his neck, and into his thick hair, and then back to his neck. Cain was amused to note that the man was fidgeting. "We've been thinking—the others, and I. We're tired of this, Cain. We dreamed so much about waking the dragons that now that we're at the next step we don't want to take it. We don't want to start a war. We don't want anymore bloodshed."

"Just how many bodies did it take for a _vampire_ to become unable to stomach bloodshed?" Cain sneered. He regretted it when Mac stopped pacing, his face paling as his guilt pictured the bodies piling up before him. Cain nodded. "Too many, then."

"We're going to trust you. I trust you because of what you've done for Beth. As far as you may be from her, you're closer than I am to her, and I regret that I ever pushed that distance between us. Goddess, I regret that," he sighed. "Fala is dangerous. How long will it before she turns on Louis-Etienne for being white, or Emile because she's not a shifter or Zhi Niao for being Chinese? No one is safe from her, no one! We need to take her down before she turns on us or before she single-handedly ruins the cover the Night World has had for centuries. We'll wait for _your_ sign. We'll follow you, Kaneonuskatew. We'll fight with _you_."

"You?" Mackenzie nodded. Cain decided to choose his words carefully, recognizing the need for tact in this situation. But tact, he decided three second later, was why he was supposed to have Bethany by him. He didn't have the patience for tact. Even trying to be sensitive, his voice was sharp. "This could easily turn into an aerial battle. We're dragons, after all. What good would your aid do then, Mackenzie? Gawain and Zhi Niao are the only two on your team capable of helping me. Even the werewolf is helpful, so long as Fala is on the ground. You and Emile are of no use to me until Fala's horns have been removed—only then will your precious guns be able to hurt her."

Cain breathed in deeply. "If we are to defeat Fala, I must feed, but I will not feed off of anyone innocent. I will not be like Fala. If you wish to help me, then you can drive me to the hospital."

"What's at the hospital?"

His eyes were as hard and black as obsidian. "The men who attacked you sister."

* * *

He went to the hospital in his traditional body. No one recognized him. Even Nicolas, with his vampire senses, didn't recognize Cain as he walked by while the vampire was fetching some food for the girls from the cafeteria.

Cain was hunting. Ahead of him he spotted a male nurse: the target he was looking for. He picked up his pace, reaching down inside him for the lightning. Since he'd learned about Fala, it had been snapping about inside his body, waiting for some kind of release and practically leapt with excitement at being beckoned. Reaching out with his mind, he slammed it into the nurse's mind, short-circuiting it. The man at once fell unconscious and Cain caught him.

Glancing around to make sure he hadn't been seen, he dragged the nurse into a supply closet. There, he stripped the nurse of his smock, keys, ID tag, and scrubs. He checked to make sure he had not caused the man any mental damage. The nurse was dreaming about hula dancers. Cain smirked mentally. He supposed that was a normal dream for a twentieth century human.

Cain slipped out of the supply closet, heading towards the emergency room area. A sharp 'excuse me' made him pause by the entrance. He glanced over his shoulder to see a plump black woman staring at him. Her long ponytail, done up in tiny dreads and tied off with brightly colored beads, rattled when she spoke. "Just who the hell are you?"

He flashed her the ID tag with a smile. His willingness to show it and his charming expression immediately turned off her suspicious, defensive attitude. "My name is John. I'm a transfer student from Kamloops, here to see how Victoria's emergency rooms work to learn how we could be more efficient."

"I don't remember hearing about this," she snapped.

He shrugged. "I can't be held accountable for that, unfortunately. A memo was supposed to have gone around. Can you update me on your emergency rooms? Are there any problems?" He shot her another smile; this one was softer. "I'm about to start my observation shift. I'd like to be prepared on what to expect tonight or where I should stay away from in my observing."

She didn't seem to like the question. She answered it anyway, with a sigh that made her buxom chest bounce. "Stay away from E-11 through E-13. Some boys were brought in today. A man found them trying to gang-rape two girls."

"Are the girls okay?"

"Yes. One was lucky to still be alive, and the other girl has a broken arm. Neither of them had been violated. We gave them a rape kit when they came into the hospital to gather forensic material in case they or their families wanted to press charges. But the boys are stronger. I think they must be football players or something. They came too while some of the orderlies were tending to their wounds and gave one of them a black eye before they were restrained. We have them bound to the beds and under heavy sedation. The last thing we want is to send you back to Kamloops looking back and blue."

"The thought is appreciated," he said, adding a little laughter to his voice.

"The man who brought them in said he'd given them a good thrashing to keep them off of the girls. When they came in, there was little evidence of it though. It's one of the strangest cases I've ever seen…" She sighed again, giving up. She didn't have time to try and rationalize their wounds. Instead, she eyed Cain's face. He prayed she wasn't going to take a look at the ID badge. Cain was wearing his normal skin. He didn't want to waste a shape to take on some nurse's body. Her eyes, however, were locked on his hair. "I don't know how Kamloops operated, but in this hospital, that haircut is against regulations. Here."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a hair band. The nurse pressed it into his hand. "Do it up. Jesus Christ, kids these days. And have fun on your observations." She waved to him and carried on.

Cain let out his breath. The first test was done. He was into the area where the boys were kept and he knew which rooms they were in. Now all he had to do was to bring them outside to where Mac waited with the car. He began pulling his long hair up into a ponytail.

He as at E-11 before he realized he was being followed. He turned around to see Beth standing there. He'd been so preoccupied thinking about how he was going to sneak Michael downstairs he didn't realize that their connection was becoming stronger as she drew closer to him.

She was standing on the cold tire floor in her bare feet. The hospital gown she was wearing made her look even younger than her normal clothes did, hanging dully off her shoulders. If not for her shoulder-length hair, she'd almost look like a pre-teen boy, he thought. She stood bravely before him, her face smooth. She had greatly improved her ability to hide her emotions from him, and he had to quench a sudden wave of pride. He nodded to her.

"Bethany."

"Kaneonuskatew."

She said it perfectly. He loved how it rolled off of her tongue in a quick snap, while at the same time enjoying the sound of each syllable pressing into the roof of her mouth. He wanted to hear her say it again. He'd missed hearing his full name; his proper name.

"I felt you when you walked by our room. I thought you were coming to check up on us, but you kept going… and then I realized that there was only one other person you'd be here to see. It's Michael, isn't it? He's here too. You brought him back here because you thought I'd hate you if you let them die."

"Yes."

Her mouth was a tight line. "You're an idiot, then." She stepped closer to him, speaking in a furious, hissing whisper to keep from yelling at him. The scent of her blood still clung to her body, and it made him feel guilty and aroused at the same time. It was hard for him to resist leaning down and smelling her hair, knowing that Kotori wasn't around to spy on them. He tried to focus on her words instead. "I may be younger than you, but I'm not stupid, Cain. I'm aware of what Michael and his friends were trying to do to Kotori and I. I didn't stop you from killing them. I stopped you from exposing yourself to Kotori. She doesn't know what you are, Cain. She thinks you're just a shifter, the same way all the other Night Worlders in our school do. And Mike is a Night Worlder too. You didn't have to go back and get him. He wouldn't have died. He's a vampire.

"Cain," she said softly, placing her hand on his arm. He didn't move an inch, feeling captured by this strange, child-like creature in front of him. He was awed by the sudden ruthlessness of her eyes and the unfamiliar closeness of her body. Her hand slowly slid down his arm, towards the exposed skin of his hand. "I want to show you something."

Their skin touched. Her shields were down again and his mind was suddenly pulled into hers. He blinked, finding it odd to process that he could see Bethany in front of him in the hallway at the same time that he could see her in the thought-forest of her mind. There, in that place, was the animal-Bethany. He understood that this was the shape her mind took when she was distraught. The mountain lion didn't have to deal with morality or emotion.

She led him deeper into the forest. He brushed thoughts, catching tastes or sounds of tantalizing memories. Cain was happy in that mind. There were so many thoughts and memories he could lose himself in that jungle and spend his whole life exploring it. She kept leading him further into her mind, until he become so lost he knew he'd never find his way out himself. There, buried in the centre of that maze, was a tree. It was so twisted almost beyond recognition of a tree.

"What is this?"

_There was a movie I watched when I was little. It was called _Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest. _In that movie, there was a tree in the middle of the forest that kept an evil force trapped. That's where I got the shape from. This is my evil tree. It holds all of my doubts and hate. This is my evil side. I can't stand you thinking I'm this… _do-gooder, _like I don't understand the need to kill. I may not be able to take this shape in reality, Cain, but I still have the instincts of an animal. I want you to touch this tree. That branch,_ she indicated, gesturing with a nod of her head. _It's that branch you want._

"Are you certain?"

Beth nodded. _Just don't think less of me for what you see. I'm trying hard not to be a hypocrite. I'm trying hard to take pride in myself._ Her voice became heavier with sadness. _It's just a little harder some days…_

He accepted it. He tried to give her as much acceptance as he would before he reached out to touch the tree. Bethany's thoughts flooded into his mind. He was surprised how deep and far the roots went. The tree was no taller than he was at the thinnest branch but the roots were spread throughout the rest of the forest.

She hated herself. There were some days when she cursed herself in the mirror. There were days when she was so frustrated with her body and her failure to change her shape that she wished Eliza had never saved her from being killed child as a child. She wished she would just drop dead to put an end to her misery. And from that self-loathing she had turned it around into righteous fury on the head of her father.

She hated the genes he gave her. She hated that because she had his blood she couldn't shapeshift. She hated him for raping her mother. She hated him for being weak. She hated her mother for not having fought back against him because of the stupid rules. From there, she started to hate humans. She hated them for being blind and stupid; for never thinking, blindly following the people around them. She hated them for their wars and their laws and their narrow, fearful views.

Sometimes, she wished that they'd all die. But, then, there were equally days when she wished all teachers would drop dead, or her fellow students, or Eliza, or government officials, or her bosses… it was just part of being a teenager. What wasn't excusable, what wasn't healthy, was the never ending rage.

Then there was the righteous fury. The same hatred that fueled the anger she felt for her father was turned towards men like him. She could recall when a black girl in her school had been raped and she had spent the day thinking of the perfect revenge on the man who had assaulted her. She couldn't stand rapists.

Cain probed that line of thought further, following it back to a new plant, only recently formed. It was a seedling in a patch of plants all relating somehow to her memories of Kotori. It hummed with a strange power, the connection. It was beautiful, whatever it was, bound up in loyalty. She'd been willing to die to protect Kotori, and the bubbling instincts she had spoken of to him before had been screaming for Michael's blood.

She still was screaming for it.

He'd seen enough. Cain pulled away from the tree to stare at Beth with new respect. No, he couldn't forget this aspect of Bethany. He'd become too attached to the idea that Bethany was a sweet, innocent girl… and she was. But in other aspects she had also seen far too much for a girl her age. She understood the reasons behind her instincts and she embraced them willingly.

Mackenzie had been wrong. He'd explained Daybreakers to Cain. It had only contributed to Cain's image of Bethany as a sweet and sensitive little girl. Cain thought that Daybreakers didn't believe in violence. He thought they didn't understand the need to sometimes retaliate with a heavy hand. Apparently—thankfully, to Cain, Beth did understand that. And, through her memories, he knew that they rest of the Daybreakers she knew understood it as well.

Sometimes you had to kill.

_I won't hate you for this,_ she told him. _I hate the fact that you and I are playing judge, jury, and executioner, but you and I agree on this. If all you ever eat, Cain, are sexual predators, I think you'd be making the world a better place._

Beth shut her mind, forcing him back into his body. He glanced around quickly. Seeing no one in sight and hearing no one approaching, he leaned down to kiss her lips swiftly. He didn't even have time to wrap his arms around her. It was not the first kiss he wanted to have with her, but he was overcome with the urge to just do it. Her body tensed, waiting for their minds to meet. It was so quick that they could feel their thoughts swirling together, but never mingling.

Her body went still. He could taste her blood on her lips. She wasted wonderful. The coppery hint to it went straight to his stomach and he realized how hungry he was for human flesh. Yet there was a strange otherness to it; a delicious otherness that made his knees weak, overcome by the flavor.

Just as soon as he tasted her, he was pulling away, fearing that stranger hunger her blood elicited in him. Cain stared her eye to eye. She wasn't breathing, still processing that she had been kissed. He raised his hand to stroke her cheek. He could feel their minds trying to connect, but their shields held, and they remained in their own bodies.

°He'll never hurt you or Kotori again." Her held breath broke in a sob. "Go back to your room, Bethany. You don't want to be implicated in this."

Beth ran back to her room. Her eyes were bloodshot when she came back. Kotori and Nick were too busy talking to notice the redness in her eyes. She climbed back into bed and shut her eyes, forcing herself into a fretful night of sleep.

* * *

Michael Richmond woke up when someone slapped his face. He snarled, cursing when he found himself bound in a chair. Someone grabbed his jaw, silencing his oaths and lifting his face. An overhead light blinded him, but gradually his eyes adjusted. Two men stood over him. One was an older Native man with shoulder-length hair and the body of a professional football player. The other was only half-Native, a little on the scrawny side compared to the first man. Neither of them looked particularly kind at the moment.

The older man turned to the vampire. He smelled, to Michael, like a shifter, but he couldn't exactly pinpoint what family he belonged to. It kept shifting. "You're certain this room is sound proof?"

The other man nodded. "Absolutely. Reinforced with padding _and_ spells. Even if he's as strong a telepath as you, he won't be heard upstairs let alone by his allies."

Turning back to Michael, the other man smiled. His teeth were very white and very sharp. "Good."


	11. Sundown

**C h a p t e r E l e v e n**

**S u n d o w n**

The nurses in the hospital thought that it was some kind of a miracle. When they inspected Beth the next morning, they found that all the internal damage had been healed. All that remained outside was a nasty-looking scab. They were going to keep her for some further observations—and, Beth sneered, no doubt to prod her with needles and things to figure out how she had healed so fast—but she kept fighting to return to school. She had already missed a week, and she feared that if she missed more, she'd never be able to catch up.

After some initial hesitation, the nurses allowed her to return to school. Kotori as well. They both showed up during their third period, and Beth was a little surprised to see that Cain wasn't there. She also found that she was a little disappointed. Even though she hadn't admitted it to herself, she had been looking forward to seeing him as much as he had her.

It was on their lunch break that she felt him approaching the school. Beth's head at once shot up, her green eyes shining. Then she felt his emotions through their connection and felt simply terrible. Something was wrong. She could feel his sadness. It was almost overwhelming. Beth excused herself from the lunch table and headed outside to meet him.

He was in the forest beyond the track field. She knew that he was waiting for her, and she was actually worried why. Coupled with the sadness she felt emanating from him, she was seized by the most incongruous theories. What if something had happened to Mac? She knew that she shouldn't care, but she did.

She found him sitting on a rock. He was in the body that he wore for school, but he didn't seem to fit into it well. His shirt wasn't buttoned properly and his jeans were ripped. He looked like a punk—and one who didn't seem to mind the faint chill in the air. Bethany finished pulling on her thin mittens to keep the cool fall air from stealing the warmth in her fingertips.

Kaneonuskatew looked like crap. There were bags under his eyes and a pale, thin line around his lips. His eyes were bloodshot. It came as a surprise to Beth that Cain was even possible of looking like crap. From the moment he'd woken up he'd always looked so confident, and held-together, and perfect. He slowly uncurled from the rock, moving with the same gracefulness that she'd always seen in him. He was aware of every muscle in his body, it seemed, and how to use it to make his movements look like art in motion. Surprisingly, it made her feel at ease. At least some things were consistent with Cain.

"What's the matter?"

He took a deep breath and then his words seemed to fail. He paused considerately. "I couldn't sleep last night. I finished reading the textbook. It was not enough information. I gathered more books and used the computer Mac and Emile showed me how to use. I was awake until the dawn reading, and even then I failed to understand. I do not think I will ever be able to understand it… the Holocaust. There is so much hatred in this world, all simply based upon skin color or religion. It doesn't even take into account if they are human, or vampire, or witch, or other. And this is the kind of war that Mackenzie would have me start. I do not want this war."

"I don't want a war either, Cain," she said softly, a little uncertain of where he was going.

Slowly, a smile pulled at his lips. "I know you do not. That is why I came to you. I… I no longer wish to be with Mackenzie and his friends. I don't want to be a part of their group if it means a war like the ones I read about. I refuse to make myself into the next Adolf Hitler."

Her heart leapt in her chest. She tried her best to remain rational. "What about Fala? She won't like that news."

"I will deal with Fala when the time comes. Fala is irrational and mad. She needs to be put down quickly and quietly." His hands tightened. "Bethany… talk to the Daybreakers, will you? You and Mac have made it clear that they consider me their enemy. I no longer wish to be their enemy. I wish to be their ally, although I think I am still too unfamiliar with the world to want to be one of them. Please, speak to them on my behalf. If they still wish for me to be put to sleep, I will run away."

The pounding of joyous heart suddenly turned into a panic. She couldn't imagine him running away—oh! Damn this connection between them. She rushed to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't run. I'll talk to them, I will! I'll make them understand, Cain."

"Fear not, Bethany. If I did run, I would hide, but I would always be close to you. Perhaps I would remain in this body, and grow up with you. You could teach me more about this world, and I would always be here to protect you."

"I'm not scared," she lied. It was hard to lie with the relief flooding through her. Slowly, her other arm snaked up so that she could hug him. She pressed herself against him, trying to comfort him, wanting to share her joy with him… joy she was scared of showing that to him. Brave, stoic Cain! Could he even handle her smiling or laughing or hanging off of him like this? His arms slowly wrapped back around her. Yes, yes, apparently he could deal with her hugging him.

"You're not a bad person. You're not a killer, not like that," she said, her voice muffled by his shirt. She felt his nose in her hair, his breath sinking between the thin strands to warm her neck. He held her closer. He would fool himself into thinking that she was right simply because she believed it.

Both of them were so busy trying to understand and contend with the sudden unbalancing change in their relationship they never noticed when Kotori's face paled in hurt and she turned away, back to the school, Beth's forgotten lunch bag still in her hand… or when Fala turned in the other direction, leaving a half-consumed body in her wake.

* * *

Beth walked back to the cafeteria a short while later. She'd decided with Cain that it would be best if he stayed at home that day. Already she was trying to figure out how to tell Daybreak that they had a goddamn dragon that wanted to defect to their side. She was sure it would be easy as pie… 

_Yes, Nicolas. My blood woke him up. Then we found out he was my Soulmate. Then he slowly developed this tiny bit of a crush on me—why? No, I never thought to ask why. It's the same why I began to care for him no matter how hard I thought of him as my enemy. I saw some qualities in him that I liked. Anyway, he wants to defect to Daybreak because he's afraid of becoming the next Hitler. May we invite him to our next tea and crumpets meeting so he can learn about our organization? Eating humans?... Um… yeah. About that…_

His diet was probably the only thing that would come between Cain and Daybreak. That was one hurdle that she didn't know how to get around. She saw Kotori look up from their table. Their eyes met across the caf and Kotori suddenly looked away, heading quickly to the washroom. Concerned, Beth picked up speed and followed her. She burst through the bathroom door with such speed that the blue metal door bounced off the opposite wall.

"Kotori!" Turning the corner, Beth found the washroom thankfully deserted with the exception of Kotori leaning over one of the sinks. Tears rolled down her best friend's cheeks. Beth ran to put her arms around her friend. "Kotori what's…"

SLAP!

It took Bethany a moment to realize what had just happened. Kotori had hit her. Kotori had never hit Bethany, not since the very first day they had met. Just the knowledge that Kotori had done it made tears start to form in Beth's eyes. The slap had hurt, yes, but it was the principal behind it that had hurt more. She was staring in the mirror. She could see Kotori's handprint on her cheek. And in the reflection of the bathroom mirror, she could see Kotori trying to dry her cheeks from her tears.

"I'm so sorry, Beth, I'm so sorry," she wept.

"What did you do that for?"

She sniffled loudly, turning around to face her friend again. Kotori's broken arm was still in a sling, but her free hand was still rubbing her cheeks. "You didn't tell me… why didn't you tell me? You're my best friend! I feel so _stupid_! There I was, pouring my heart out to you, telling you all my problems, and you didn't even have the decency to say that you were in the same boat… that you had found your Soulmate, too."

For a split second Beth could have sworn that her heart had stopped beating. She went very still. "How… how did you know?"

"I saw you and Cain hugging out in the woods. I should have seen it earlier, I suppose. You never would have let a boy get that close to you without good reason. And the way that he looked at you… God! I was such an idiot. There I was making a fool of myself and telling you how you two should hook up and all the time you knew what he was to you, but you just let me carry on… I laid my heart bare for you and all I asked was that you do the same! That's what friend do, Bethany!"

She winced at hearing her full name. She struggled to find words, reaching for her friend. Kotori's good hand pushed her away with enough force that she struck the wall behind her before she gained her balance. The world felt dizzy; nothing was where it was supposed to be. "Kotori, _please_! You don't understand! There were… _circumstances_!"

"What? You mean like the fact that Cain's a dragon?" She watched as Beth's face went deadly white. Her green eyes stood out blazingly in the contrast. Kotori turned away, unable to look Beth in the eye. "Yeah. I got that part, too, thanks." Her mouth pulled into a deep frown that marred her pretty face. "That was the reason why you didn't want to tell me, wasn't it? Because he's a goddamn dragon it makes him our enemy."

Beth nodded. She was too afraid to speak incase it came out as a sob. In turn, Kotori's disgust only deepened, but she was the one who sobbed. Kotori's good hand punched a metal door to a bathroom stall so hard it left behind imprints of her knuckles.

"I'm your best friend, Beth! You could have told me! You know that I would have taken your side? Do you really think that I would have tried to peel you and Cain apart if you told me about him when I had just found my Soulmate and I would have understood the pain of separation? Do you think I would have let Daybreak take Cain from you? Do you?!"

She wanted to lie; oh goddess, how badly she wanted to lie! Her dark hair fell over her face as she slowly nodded, feeling herself crumbling against Kotori's justified anger.

"I never would have done that!" she snapped, the last word coming out as a sob.

"I'm so sorry, Kotori! I was just so scared! Sacred of everything... I didn't know who to trust or believe anymore!"

"You wanted me to turn him in," Kotori said, turning away from Beth and drying her tears again. She was breathing deeply, trying to regain control of herself. Slowly, her voice became calm and level again. She avoided looking at Beth; avoided the sight of those green eyes turned almost aqua in tears, her ruddy cheeks stained, and her dark, lean hair hanging limply over her heart-shaped face. If ever there was a time when Kotori could see the Nightworlder in Bethany, it was when her friend cried. "But I didn't. I turned you in, instead."

"M... me?"

"Yes. You lied to us. Again and again over this past week, you lied to us. You lied to us about Cain. How many lies did you tell us, Beth? You're a traitor. You can't think rationally when your enemy is your Soulmate."

"He's not my enemy anymore! He wants to defect!"

Kotori spun on her heel. "And what if he's just using your connection to manipulate you? What then, Beth? If Cain's honest, fine. But the mater is that you still betrayed us. I called Nick and explained everything. He's on his way to pick you up. I'm to escort you downstairs in ten minutes."

"Kotori?"

"He'll pick you up and drive you to the headquarters."

"Kotori!"

"There, you'll be put on trial." Kotori reached into her knapsack, laying against the wall of the bathroom, and handed it to Beth. "You have enough time to call Eliza and tell her that you're going to be late for supper. Then we're going to meet Nick downstairs. If a teacher asks you what's wrong or why you're leaving early, it's because you have food poisoning. Understood?"

Beth was sobbing. "Don't do this, Kotori..."

Her friend was still pale and shaking. She licked her lips before slowly answering. "I'm sorry, Beth. I'm a Daybreaker... I'm the Soulmate of a Daybreaker... I follow rules. You broke the rules. I'm sure I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't so mad with you right now, but I just can't seem to think of anything else. You didn't just break the rules, Beth. You betrayed _me_... and so now I'm doing the same."

She grabbed her bag and hoisted it over her bad shoulder. Her good hand grabbed Beth's arm, keeping a tight grip on her so she couldn't make a run for it. "Hopefully you'll forgive me soon, Beth. Cain is still safe. I just told Nick of the relationship between you two. You're going in for witholding information and fraternizing with the enemy. Cain will still be safe."

"Not for much longer! Don't you see, Kotori? I _would_ have told them if I could trust them. Duncan and the others are so obsessed with the idea of stopping Cain that they're going to use me as bait to capture or kill him. Someone is going to end up dead in all this, Kotori!"

Her friend's eyes were inhumanly cold. The only other person Beth had ever seen wearing that same expression was Kaneonuskatew. "Then so be it."

* * *

True to Kotori's words, Nick's white car pulled up in front of the school only a few minutes later. Usually Nick would hop out, a boundless sea of energy when Kotori was around. Instead he just sat in his front seat, wearing an expression that almost looked like a sulk. Wearily making her way to the car, Beth climbed into the vacant front seat. Kotori was staying at school to finish the day. It was with a dismal heart that Beth realized she was actually jealous of her friend for being able to stay at school. At least if Kotori were ever to be kicked out of Daybreak she could still pass the year. Beth was beginning to think she'd missed so many classes that she'd never pass high school. 

They began driving. Nick's mouth was in a tight line, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel. Even his normally styled hair was messy in his anger. Finally, after what seemed like whatever, Nick spoke. "I can't believe you lied to us."

"You would have done the same thing for Kotori had you been in my shoes." Beth pulled away from the window to glance in the back seat. A filled canvas back was spread out across the back seat. She arched an eyebrow. "What the hell did she call you in the middle of doing? Buying potatoes?"

"It's none of your business," he snapped.

Nick rarely snapped. The sound made Beth jump back into her seat, her eyes on the road ahead of them. Shame colored her cheeks and she stared out the window again. She didn't like it when Nick was angry. She could feel tears sting her eyes. Why was she crying so much lately? Then she could feel it—a sudden warmth spreading between her legs. Beth froze in the car. Dear heavenly goddess… No. Not now. She couldn't stand it now. The tears started running, pushed over the edge by the embarrassment of having her period start while she was on her way to an inquisition.

"Oh, don't cry." His voice was a hiss and from the corner of her vision Beth could see Nick roll his eyes in exasperation. "Don't you _dare_ start to cry. There's no reason to cry!" Nick shook his head, staring at the road. "I can't stand it when you humans cry. You're all watery and slobbery and I can't stand it. You have _no_ right to cry you… you little tramp!"

Beth felt like she had been slapped. She couldn't have heard correctly! Nick being snappy was one thing—and understandable—being called a tramp was another matter entirely. "Wh… what?"

"You heard me! You had everything; you got everything! All I had were lies. He lied to me, and I was stupid enough to let myself be swayed by his words and his pretty face. I should have known that I couldn't have trusted him. He called me Queen, promised me power, but all he wanted was you." He went around a corner so fast he nearly side-swiped a red pickup truck. The red truck blared its horn, but Nick just kept speeding. "Now he thinks he has you but he's wrong. Now _I _have you."

He glanced at her, grinning wickedly. Beth realizes then that the face was a mask. It was perfect, but it wasn't Nicolas. Beth cursed herself; she should have picked up on it earlier! Looking closer, knowing what she was looking for, she could see two small, delicate horns hiding amongst Nick's flaming red hair. Her voice came out in a squeak.

"Drop the disguise, Fala. I can't stand to see you behind Nick's face."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Her smile turned sweet. "Don't you want to know where we're going? Don't you know what I'm going to do with you and Gawain?"

"Gawain?" Slowly, Beth glanced over her shoulder at the burlap sack. She stared at it in a new light. Gawain was stuffed into that sack, unconscious. What had Fala done to knock him out and get him into a burlap sack? She frowned, turning back to Fala. "I don't need to ask. I know where you're taking us. You're going to make Gawain wake the other dragons."

Fala smiled through Nick's face. "Yes. At least Kaneonuskatew didn't fall for a dumb human, I'll give you that. But I am only going to awake the other red dragons, like myself. I'll kill the others as they wake up. Kaneonuskatew was willing to kill me. I'm not nearly so kind. I'm going to make him suffer."

Beth's lips parted softly as she tried to stifle the panic in her heart. Fala was talking about genocide! "You're going to kill off his entire family?"

"I'm actually doing that for _my_ family, to protect our interests. No, I'm going to leave him alive and break him in the deepest, most intimate way I can. I'm going to kill you."

Beth felt a scream rising in her throat, pumped their by her heart. She could feel rumbling in the car, so strong it made the glass behind her head vibrate. The sound was coming from Fala. The teenager struggled to control her scream; it wouldn't do any good. No one would hear who would be in a position to help her. The car was passing under a sign which read 'now leaving Victoria' as Bethany watched black lightning leap across Fala's skin, such a dark shade of red that it resembled the color of old blood.

She reached down inside herself. The rumbling was pounding in her ears. She plummeted down inside herself, _straining_ for the cord inside of herself that tied her to Kaneonuskatew. Her mental shields were crackling under the rumbling sound. Darkness was swallowing her thoughts. She could see Fala's mouth opening, her maw filled with red-blood-lightning. Beth reached the cord, feeling it shake with excitement as she drew near, as if it were a thing alive. She packed all the power and strength she could find as the world caved into the black thoughtlessness. She wasn't even sure if her thought had gone out as she was enveloped in it, and even the cord of her innermost being slipped from her hands into the pitch black nothingness.

Fala pulled over the car as soon as she was free of the city. There was a scenic lookout just outside of town. She parked the car in the area with the densest cover and then dragged the two bodies and supplies out of the car. She'd need to act quickly. There was a possibility that the abomination had gotten a call out to her Soulmate for help and there was no way for Fala to know about it. It would take too long to drive to the mountains.

She stripped off her clothes, tossing them into the back seat. The keys she hid under the frame of the care. Then she began to change her shape. Her neck grew longer. Her jaw jutted out, sharp teeth pointing out from under her lips here and there. She became bigger—a lot bigger. Her hands became three-clawed hands. Her feet went from five-toed to three. Her shoulder bones rearranged themselves as large, leathery wings grew from her back. Her skin cracked as it turned into scales, darkening into a beautiful ruby-red color.

From behind her another car drove up to enjoy the late fall colors, saw the dragon, and crashed into a tree. Fala could hear the humans inside the smoking car screaming. She snarled at them and opened her mouth, shooting down a ball of fire at the car. It erupted into flames and silenced their screams. Fala's headache lessened without their pitiful cries around to bother her.

Flying to the dragons would be much quicker. She flapped her wings, hovering awkwardly as one claw scooped up Gawain and the other scooped up the girl. She grabbed the sack of equipment with her hands and then beat her wings quickly, taking her up into the sky.

Who knew? If she timed it right, maybe Kaneonuskatew would arrive one second too late to be able to stop it.

Wouldn't that be priceless!

* * *

To be continued... 


	12. Twilight

**C h a p t e r T w e l v e**

**T w i l i g h t**

Kotori stared at the forest. She didn't know what it was that was calling her to it. More than anything, she wanted to stay away from that line of coniferous trees. The sheer sight of them made her stomach shake with nervousness, and yet, that afternoon when class was done, she was feeling drawn to them.

She decided that maybe it was because she was afraid of them. Something in her subconscious was trying to get her inside the woods to prove to herself that there was nothing in them. Michael and his friends were not hiding around every tree, ready to hurt them. In fact, Michael hadn't even been seen since the incident, which was a little strange. As a vampire he should have recovered long ago.

Kotori knew that if she didn't go into the woods soon, she never would again, letting the fear become ingrained into her. She pursed her lips stubbornly, a faint crease appearing between her eyebrows. She wasn't going to let that happen. She wasn't about to let her fear have control over her life.

She walked into the woods. At first her feet shuffled along the ground, but soon she was walking along with her back straight and her chin up. The woods were calling to her other-self, and she wished, not for the first time, that she didn't have the cast on her arm.

It slowly dawned on her, however, that something wasn't right. It had nothing to do with the woods and everything to do with something inside of herself. She suddenly felt a little nauseous and displaced. She searched down deeper inside herself for a cause and was startled to feel the silver cord that linked her with her Soulmate was the source of the displacement. Something was wrong with Nick, but she couldn't discern any actual emotions from him, just a sickening sense of _wrongness_…

And he was closer; closer than he was supposed to be. Her heart leapt into her throat and she veered recklessly off the path, searching for her Soulmate. She was close enough that if she concentrated she could smell him. She pushed aside sticks and branches as she pressed deeper into the thicker tangling of trees. Slowly, concentrating on the cord, she could feel bubbles of thoughts slowly beginning to rise up from the depths of Nick's mind.

She found him kneeling on three limbs, one hand clutching his pounding head. Kotori managed to keep from throwing her arms around him to help him up first rather than attacking him. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"There was a girl in the street. I swerved to miss her. Ow." He winced when he stood up, rubbing a shoulder. Nick's face was neutral, but Kotori could see the anger welling up behind the blue-eyed mask he wore. It didn't help that she could feel their frustrations swirling together, fueling each other's anger and worry. "The next thing I knew, I had jumped out of my car to see if she was okay and she was standing there in my form… there was… this… _roaring_ kind of sound... I remember thinking something about lightening… and then I woke up here."

"You never picked up Bethany?"

"No."

"Fala." Kotori's hands clenched. "_Fala, _that other dragon Beth had mentioned! She took your form!"

He placed his hands on her shoulders to keep her from bursting out of her own skin. Kotori's teeth were gritted and she looked ready to rip something to shreds. "Don't jump to conclusions, Kotori. How do you know it wasn't Cain? If they are Soulmates, then it's possible he'd go to all this trouble just to keep her safe and sound."

"If it were Cain, he would have let her tell us that she was okay before we worried!" She shook her head, exasperated, and her beautiful hair whirled behind her back like a living embodiment of her frustration. "Look, we've met Cain, okay? He may be our enemy because he's a dragon, but he's also a really decent guy! He wanted to defect to our side, Nick! He wanted to defect because he doesn't want to fight, and he doesn't want Beth as an enemy! He's never been anything but nice to us! Cain wouldn't do this!"

Nick didn't look convinced. Kotori clutched his hand with one of hers, holding them under her chin tightly and staring up with all the pleading her pride could let her muster. "Nick, _please_, you have to believe me! I'm not jumping to illogical conclusions! This wasn't a rescue attempt, it was a kidnapping!"

* * *

"Have you seen Gawaine?" Emile asked, coming down from the second level of the log house. Cain, sprawled along the couch with a pile of books scattered by him, glanced over the edge of the books to glance at Emile.

Stunningly beautiful, as most Night Worlders were, Cain thought that Emile was possibly one of the prettiest. He admired the way her curly golden hair tumbles around her neck or the way her make up allowed a human man to easily breeze over her face and mistake her painted features for a sign that she was in idiot, writing off the ruthlessness and brains behind her blue eyes as their imagination.

At the moment, her beautiful mouth was lined with worry-lines, and her eyebrows were knotted in an expression of concern. Cain made a sound of inquiry, not letting the book slide from his grip an inch further. She shrugged, standing on the last step of the stairs and crossing her arms. "I haven't heard him come home from school yet. Normally he's here by now."

"He's a young man," the dragon said, putting the book back in the middle of his field of vision. "He can take care of himself."

"Only because someone finally bothered to teach him how," she sighed. Cain heard her move into the kitchen and then return a moment later with menthol cigarettes in her hand and a wineglass in the other. She was going to go outside in the backyard and drink and smoke where the smell of neither would offend the shifter noses within the house—or so he thought. Instead she sat down in a chair opposite him, putting down the glass and the smokes and lifting her legs to her chest. Cain wondered at the stance, having seen Beth take it before as well. "Gawain is a remarkable boy."

"At fifteen, if he is able to conduct spells requiring as much power and concentration as the one he did to wake us up, I can sincerely believe that. The boy has potential."

"But we have no one here to train him."

Cain sighed and brought he book down again. Evidently Emile was set up talking. "Were he able to learn our magic, I would gladly teach him, but he lacks the proper vocal chords… among other things."

"But _Daybreak_ would be able to teach him more."

Given the conversation he'd had with Bethany only two hours or so before, Cain automatically perceived suggestive hints in her tone—and dangerous hints. His head whipped around to stare at her and he slowly sat up, growling. His eyes scanned her face looking for any sign of trouble, forcing himself to not be fooled by the gentle, petite face and the mass of angelic blonde hair. "You're right," he finally said slowly, sensing no further threat. "Daybreak would have someone to teach him more magic."

She blinked innocently. "Would you hate us if we sent him there?"

"I'm not Fala."

Emile, bless her heart, blushed and stood up, picking her wine glass back up. "No, thank heavens, you're not." She paused and offered him a selective smile. "I thank the gods every day that we made a friend who understood the meaning of subtlety."

He felt himself blush with the unexpected praise before he could stop it. It was not the actual complement but the wording of it. She had not called him 'dragon' or 'comrade in arms' or 'partner', but _friend_. The only people he could recall having called him friend were Kotori and Nick, and they weren't aware of who he really was. They had offered the term for him because of his connection to Bethany and not because of his own self. Emile had called him friend for being himself, and not for pretending to be someone else.

"Thank you," he said, flattered.

Suddenly the ground fell out from beneath his feet. Cain had never blacked out before in his life, but suddenly he knew what it felt like. The world was going dark around him. He was having trouble breathing, and his whole body felt warm and tingly. He felt himself collapse into the couch, but he didn't really feel the impact.

At the inner most core of his being, the fragile area where his precious connection to his Soulmate was rooted, he suddenly felt the bounds of their connection sever. For one horrible, horrible moment Cain thought she was dead. It was the only thing that could explain the severing of their connection. Panic tried to swamp over his mind, and he could feel his blood boiling in his veins at the rage he felt, a scream strugglign to escape his lips. Struggling to contain it, he probed deeper and felt that it was still there; they were still connected. The world slowly began to swim back to place as he held the tattered ends of the wounded connection.

What had Beth done? How had Beth done this? He couldn't feel her, far away from him. He couldn't pick up any emotions. Even when she had shied away from that connection, he could tell when she had been happy or frightened or melancholy. When he probed deeper, she always had walls up to stop him, but now his mind hit nothing but darkness when he followed the cord.

And then, from within that still darkness, that disfiguring nothingness, rose a bubble. It seemed strange, moving so gently up to him. And then the bubble burst in his mind, exploding with all the force of a volcano, blinding his world white. Bethany's scream echoed in his mind, crying out his name in such terror and need that he found himself moving before his vision had even cleared.

"What?" Emile asked, following him. "What is it?"

"Bethany's in trouble," Cain said between grinding teeth. His jaw hurt from it. He wasn't even thinking properly. He didn't bother grabbing outdoor clothes. All he could feel was the need to get to Beth and ensure that their weak connection didn't sever completely. He flung open the doors to the porch, Emile hot on his trail.

His shirt began ripping as his shoulders cracked and extended. Emile grabbed his arm, wide-eyed in horror. "Flying? Do you want to get yourself killed? People will _see_ you!"

His black eyes were snapping with fury. "I don't care. She needs me."

"You're no good to her _dead_!"

The vampire had such a point that for a moment the dragon stopped. Then he paused longer, lashing his temper under his own control. He gripped her shoulders. "Someone has Bethany and has knocked her out. I'm tired of people trying to hurt my Soulmate. You'd be acting the same way if it were Mackenzie in danger, Emile. I can get to her faster this way. I'm not going to direct a taxi around town trying to track her down!"

He released her and Emile did not protest again. She watched as he finished changing, yelling up to him to make her voice heard over the beat of his wings. "Contact us when you know where she is! We'll try to help!"

Cain didn't answer. Lifting up into the sky, he opened his mouth and roared so loudly that the panes of glass in the house below him shook from the sound. Then, turning his attention to the unwound cord, he began to follow it to Bethany.

* * *

Beth had passed out before. Then, coming back to consciousness had been like swimming through a hazy fog. It was gradual and some part of you had to push to actually wake back up. It was all too easy to let the haze claim you again and to fall asleep. This time, however, there was no hazy fog. Beth suddenly gasped, opened her eyes, and shot up, as if something had been pressing her down into the unconsciousness and as soon as it lifted her mind sprang back up into its proper place.

Gawain was near her. He was lighting candles, but paused in his work when he heard her wake. The young boys dark brown eyes stared at her, glittering with something Beth had never seen before: lust. Even as she recognized it, feeling his eyes linger on her body, she knew that it wasn't intentional. He was a normal boy and she, much to her horror, was completely naked.

Folding her arms around herself, she glanced around. Great lurking shapes surrounded them: dragons. She glanced overhead to see the shelf where they had first performed the ritual. Now they were on the actual ground. It was chilly down here. Beth stood up in the circle, rubbing her shoulder and keeping her small breasts hidden from Gawain. The nearest dragon, much to her horror, was a deep, red color. Fala's kin.

"Where's Fala?"

"She said she wanted to hunt before she did this. She said she needed a lot of energy to kill so many. She ordered me to get the ritual set up." He finished lighting the last candle and then put his lighter back into his pocket before he reached up and began undoing the buttons of his shirt. "If you're awake, she must be coming back. She wouldn't risk you escaping."

"We should run!"

The lust she had seen in his eyes was replaced by something else Beth had never seen before. In a flash those lively brown eyes had become dead and hollow. Fala had said or done something to him that had eaten at his mind. He wasn't even afraid of her anymore, just complacent.

"There's nowhere to go."

He was right; there wasn't. Beth didn't know of a way up and out of the mountains, and all they had to light their way was Gawain's little lighter. Besides, even if they could get out of the cavern, where could they hide in the woods that Fala wouldn't be able to track them down? There was no help coming…

_Cain._

The thought passed through her heart like a pang. She reached down into herself to find that mental and emotional bond they shared together. Normally laying passive, it shook with barely restrained anger.

_Cain_?

_Bethany! You're awake again! Gods above, I thought that I had nearly lost you!_

The sound of his voice in her ears almost made her break down into tears. She'd worried him and she didn't like that. She didn't want Cain to lose her, nor she him. She sniffled loudly. _You'll never lose me. I'm made to be the thorn at your side._

_Where are you?_ The question was quick and urgent, but under it and the shaking rage Beth could feel warm thoughts circulating his mind. He was pleased by her response, if a little pained. She didn't understand why but she suspected that it was because he wanted her to be more than a pain in his side.

_The cave where you were sleeping. Gawain's here too._

Kaneonuskatew swore in so many different languages Beth couldn't identify most of them. _She wants to resurrect the other dragons. I'm already on my way, Bethany, but it's going to take me a little while longer to get to you. Emile warned me not to fly, but I didn't listen to her. I need to shake off the things flying after me before I can make it to you. Can you stall her?_

_Yes!_

She was a little surprised at the force of her answer. Beth couldn't remember doing anything like this before. Where had this sense of defiance come from? Beth wasn't a good fighter, not like the other Night Worlders. All Fala would have to do is shoot her once and she'd be pushed back into unconsciousness! She was seriously going to try evading something like that?

For Cain? Knowing that he was on his way and the situation wasn't hopeless? For Kotori and Nick and Eliza? Even for Mac? Yes, she'd become foolish and reckless just this once if it meant that she could see them again.

Beth grabbed Gawain's hand and started pulling him into the mountain of sleeping dragon bodies that surrounded them. "Come on. Cain's on his way. We've got to buy time. We need a place to…"

"He _is_ coming? Good." Fala's voice made her skid to a halt. Beth's ears twitched and her nose wrinkled as she sniffed, trying to pinpoint where the dragon was, but all she could smell were Fala's kin which surrounded them. Beth tightened her grip on Gawain's hand and pulled them slowly deeper amongst the dragons, trying to keep her feet from making a sound against the loose rocks. "I was rather worried that you were too proud to use your Soulmate connection to talk to one another. That would be such a disappointment, to know that he wasn't coming to arrive here to find your inert body."

Crunch!

Beth lost her balance and landed on the rocks hard. The sound echoed through the cavern and she bit the inside of her lip to keep from crying out. The sharp edges had cut her skin. When she reached out to steady herself, she found cool rock wall instead of scaled, warm dragon hide. They had found one wall of the cavern. If there was a walking passage out of the cave, they could follow the wall to find it. Even a niche would be a large help! Besides, with the wall beside them, it ruled out one direction Fala could take to attack them.

"You can't hide, you know. I can smell your stench from anywhere. You're bleeding, Bethany." The half-human girl blushed when she recalled the incident in the car. "Bethany, Bethany, Beth… a… knee… Why fight it? Oh… I see. You're stalling. Cain's coming, of course. You're trying to bide time for him to come."

Beth could hear the crunch of bones and heard something heavy strike the ground in a wet splat. Then she heard nothing. She paused, Gawain breathing heavily beside her and his hand clammy in hers. She ignored it to concentrate on her surroundings. She couldn't see, but she'd never been able to see well. Beth let herself stare, concentrating on her other senses. She was pausing like a predator, she knew, waiting until her prey was unsuspecting to move again.

_There_!

The attack was so fast Beth was slow in reacting. She felt the wind change around her, her long black hair fanning up over shoulders as something came flying in quickly. Claws raked her shoulder, deep gashes, but nothing life threatening. Beth pulled Gawain along as she moved further down the wall. Fala was in an owl shape. She risked taking her hand off the wall to cover the flow of blood from her shoulder. Judging from the span of the clawed that had struck her, Fala was a _large_ owl, too.

Out of nowhere, Gawain started to recite the spell. Bethany froze, turning back to look at him blindly. Between his words she could hear him sob and she could taste the salty hint of tears on her tongue. She tightened her grip on his hand. "Stop it! Come on! We can get through this!"

He shook his head and sobbed louder. "I'm sorry, Bethany." He pulled his hand free from hers and stepped back away from her out of fear. Beth felt like she had been slapped. What had Fala threatened to do to him…

She was so busy concentrating on Gawain that she hadn't felt the person coming up silently behind her until strong arms wrapped around her arms, pulling them back and shoving her to the ground. Beth glanced over shoulder as she struggled to stay up, shocked to see that it was a human male. Her gaze swept up to the hairline: the horns were still there.

"You humans," he laughed. "You've pathetic shields on your memories. Do you know what happened to Gawain? Someone abused him badly when he was younger; someone with this face. Now the poor boy will do anything to keep from feeling himself pinned to the ground with that drunkard's body over his, won't he, Sweetie?"

Beth glanced at Gawain. He was moving out of what she could make out in the dark cave, but she could see that his skin was ashen from fear, and his mouth shook. He had to struggle to remember the spell when he saw that face.

"Let me go, Fala!"

The woman laughed in the deep base of the man's voice. "Or what, little Bethany? Your boyfriend will kill me for touching you?"

"Cain's not my boyfriend."

"Could have fooled me!"

"I can't believe that you're doing all of this out of jealousy for some man! I thought that you were above that Fala!"

She clucked her tongue. "Psychology won't work on me, Beth. I can see your plots." Just to prove her point, she nudged Beth's thoughts with her mind. She never thought the telepathy would hurt, but it did. It felt like burning cinders were being wrapped into her mind and she hissed in pain. "Will this work without that ritual knife?" she asked Gawain.

He stammered blithely until she growled at him. "I honestly don't know."

"Better run and get it, then. Come on, Bethany. Be a good, docile girl."

"Bite me!" Beth struggled when she felt those large arms pick her up off the ground. She hated being small sometimes. Fala was carrying her without any problem at all and the kicks she was landing weren't hurting the dragon in the slightest. She growled in frustration and was surprised at the way it was rumbling in her chest. She had never growled like that before. She leaned back her head and bit at Fala's ear, feeling her teeth puncture skin. Fala's screech hurt her ears, and then the woman punched Beth so hard that she landed on the ground, the taste of Fala's blood staining her cheeks.

The light from the circle was close enough that it was throwing everything up into illumination. Beth could see blood running down from Fala's ear. Her—his?—face was contorted by the pain and anger into an ugly visage. Beth would never forget how her treacherous body froze when those eyes landed on her. There wasn't a lot of warning this time as the thunder rose and the lightning danced along Fala's skin. The spot next to Beth's head exploded, covering her dark hair in bits of debris and a fine layer of dust.

"Knife, Gawain."

"I cast the spells. If you want the knife, you can get it yourself. I'm a witch. I don't kill."

She growled at him and bent to retrieve the knife herself. Beth hadn't moved. She had heard the message loud and clear. The next shot wouldn't be aimed an inch over to the left. Beth would bleed just fine if she were missing her legs. Fala couldn't have made the point clearer.

Beth glanced around, smelling blood not her own. She nearly screamed when she glanced up at saw the dead, black eyes of a deer staring back at her. The creature's body was punctuated by claw marks, causing blood to slowly stain the otherwise pure, white belly. Beth remembered the wet thud she had heard earlier and gulped.

"Snacks for the first of my kin to wake up," Fala said.

Fala changed back into her own shape—or at least the human shape in which she felt the most comfortable. Beth felt like a child next to Fala's curves. Something shifted behind them: a red dragon. With a grin, Fala picked up Beth's hand. "It seems that we don't need the knife. That wound on your shoulder is doing just fine. If we weren't under a time constraint, maybe I wouldn't need to even do this."

Beth knew this was going to hurt. She had done this before. She reached down into herself and erected walls around the Soulmate connection, guilt welling up inside her when she sensed Cain's panic. She didn't want him knowing that she was in pain. She only let the anger trickle into her from him, harnessing it to her will, gritting her teeth as she stared Fala in the eye. "I'm going to mount one of your pretty little horns on my wall as a trophy."

Fala's sensuous mouth was tight. She brought the knife down as hard as she could and felt triumphant when Beth looked away, closing her eyes and biting her lip to keep from crying out. "Nice to see that the kitten does have some claws… too bad it's far too late for you. You're going to die here, Bethany, just like the abomination you are."

Beth glared at Fala, watching the other woman lift the knife to her mouth and taste the red blood that coated it. She licked her lips. "Not a single taste of shifter blood in you. Had you been born into my family, I would have killed you in your cradle. I would not have allowed such a pathetic creature to live."

She kept her face locked into that stubborn glare, not hinting at the anger and pain she was feeling. Her blood dripped from her wrist to the ground in fat droplets, coating her fingers and making her hand feel fuzzy. Her other hand felt fine though. Beth curled her fingers and struck, scratching at Fala's face with such hatred behind her speed that the dragon didn't have time to move. Fala seemed shocked for a moment, and then the blood started welling up under the gouges Beth's fingernails had left on her cheek.

It was a stupid and dangerous thing to do. Beth had just wanted to lash out at Fala for saying those horrible things, and so she had. Then the surprised changed as Fala reached up to wipe the blood from her face and something dropped to the ground. Both women stared at it in horror:

It was a horn.

Fala found her fury before Bethany had a chance to even think about what she had done. Her hand lashed out to grab Beth by her neck, squeezing tightly. "You little _bitch_," she snarled. Between her clenched eyes Beth could see that Fala's form was shifting erratically, but in all of them, somehow, her grip never let go. Her gaze shifted to the red dragon that was still shifting, slowly waking up. "This death is too quick for you."

_I knew that no Soulmate of mine would be weak¸ _Cain said proudly, perching on the ledge above them. He snapped his jaws so loudly that Gawain ducked behind the nearest dragon to hide. _Let her go, Fala. Your fight is with me._

"She took my horn!" Fala screeched like a perturbed child.

_And you've been gorging on human blood. I think that it makes us a bit even in this fight, don't you? Don't make me repeat myself, Fala._

Sneering, Fala dropped Bethany. The shifted landed hard, pain shooting up through the injured side of her body. As her vision cleared she stared at her good hand, watching her nails slowly sink back into her skin and reform themselves into human-shaped nails. Beth wrote it off as damage to her brain from the onset of asphyxiation.

Above her Fala turned, lording over her and Gawain and roaring her triumph, but her eyes were dead. Beth almost pitied her—_almost_. She was going into the battle knowing that she was going to die and yet she did it anyway. The dragon shifted behind her, a large clawed hand squeezing and the back muscles rolled. Beth's hair whirled behind her as Fala flapped her wings and lifted into the air.

_We should take this outside._

_We should._ Cain's head turned slightly to stare down at Bethany. She felt her face flush at that gaze, wondering how such an inhuman and alien face could actually look at her with warmth and fear. He switched from telepathy to the Soulmate link. _You need to bind your bleeding and get away from those dragons _now, _Beth._

He spread his great, leathery wings and beat them only once to lift himself into the air, disappearing into the darkness above them. Beth found herself staring, her feet locked to the ground as she continued to marvel at Cain.

He was beautiful. This was the first time she had gotten to see him—all of him—in his natural form. He was stunning.

She was so spellbound by the grace and the raw power of his form that for a moment, all the pain went away… and so did the knowledge that behind her a dragon was opening his eyes.

* * *

To be continued... only a few more chapters to go!


	13. Darkness

**C h a p t e r T h i r t e e n**

**D a r k n e s s **

Cain was a beautiful dragon; all the other dragons in his family had agreed that he was a fine example of what a dragon should look like. His jaw was large and muscular, his eyes bright, shining gold under a protective wing of horn to keep them from being clawed out in battle. His wings were large and bat-like, functioning them to serve at times as another pair of arms to cling to rock walls and giving him the versatility required to perform intricate aerial acts like tumbling and diving in the air. His back was bright green, striated with bands of brown to serve as camouflage and a softer, yellow-tinged belly. His tail behind him was long, sinuous, and dexterous. It was not prehensile, but dragons had enough control over them to use them as whips to lash and tear wings to pieces…

And, unlike Fala and the red-dragon kin, _his_ tail wasn't tipped with barbs. Though she had one horn less, Fala still possessed natural weapons that made her dangerous enough. He would have to be careful around her and keep his tender wings free of that tail. His only consolation was that her wings were about half as small as his: it gave her less maneuverability and meant that she had to exert herself all the more just to stay in the air.

They circled each other warily over the snow-capped mountains, the trees bursting out of the snow. They looked like the ends of bristles from their height. It was cold enough that when they breathed long jets of steam and hot air clouded the air in front of them.

Fala attacked first. She was rash and impatient. She suddenly pulled back her wings and dove, shooting a jet of fire at him as she went down. He folded his wings and rolled in the air out of the way, shooting down a blast of black-green lightning at her. It missed and struck the earth far below, sending the tall pines crashing into one another.

Kaneonuskatew was much more patient. He knew how to wait to attack. He wanted to wait until he had a clear shot. It would be very hard to knock off Fala's other horn while they were fighting in the air. He'd have to get close and use his teeth or his claws. He actually had a better chance of disemboweling Fala or simply breaking her spinal cord between his jaws if he had to get that close to her.

She circled at his level. Her eyes were dead. That made Cain more scared than the barbs on her tail or those fierce teeth. _While you're fighting me, my kin will be eating your Soulmate_, she sneered.

_Would you care to know something, Fala?_ Fala arched her neck curiously. _When I first found she was my Soulmate, I thought that Fate was laughing at us. I had always thoughts Soulmates had to match. While the outsides may be different, the inside is not without similarity. I am a fighter, but I look it. Bethany does not look like a fighter, and fools like you see her weaknesses rather than her strengths, tricking yourselves into thinking that she isn't a fighter because she's not like you… But she's a better fighter than you ever will be._

The red dragon laughed. _Such pretty words from a pretty mouth!_ Cain watched as the steam Fala expelled began growing. She was about to shoot fire again. _But I still know something that you don't know Kaneonuskatew._

* * *

Beth quickly recovered her senses when she heard the dragon behind her snort. "Gawain! Where are my clothes?" 

"Ah… over here…"

She stood up awkwardly. She felt dizzy. Beth latched on to the vibrating connection she felt with Cain, using it to steady herself. For some reason, the anger she felt flowing through it made her feel better. "Cut a long strip from my shirt, will you? I need something to help close this…"

Beth felt the air move, rippling across her skin. She froze in terror, and then, coming to her senses, slowly turned to glance over her shoulder. The red dragon's head had lifted from the ground, and he was staring at her. Slowly, his gaze slipped, and he made a move to the deer.

She ran, grabbing Gawain's hand. There wasn't any time anymore! It was obviously too late for bandages.

"Where are we going?" Gawain demanded, stumbling along behind her. She heard him curse when his feet stabbed the sharp, rocky ground. She knew that hers were already bleeding from the rocks, but she ignored them.

Where _were_ they going? She paused, breathing heavily. "Got your lighter?" Fumbling in the darkness, he passed it to her. She held it high in her good hand and struck it for a second. She could see green ahead. Beth smiled. She moved at a quick pace, the lighter still glowing. She didn't have time to walk. "Cain said that his kin were enemies with Fala's. The enemy of my enemy is my ally. We'll just wake these guys up. I'm already bleeding… a lot. When Cain's done with Fala, he can explain everything to them."

Beth was about to smile at Gawain and make some joke about how he and Mac were going to get their dragons after all, when she saw the blood.

It had been hard to see because the bic wasn't casting much light and the blood was so thick and dark it blended in with the rocky ground. She stopped so quickly Gawain nearly walked into her. They stood in shock, and then Beth heard someone cry out, as if in tremendous pain.

Only afterwards did she realize it had come from her. She walked slowly forward, feeling her feet sink into the pooling blood. It was still slightly warm. When it was fresh it must have been so hot it could have burned. Beth's hands clenched in anger. Reaching out, she relaxed her injured hand, running her hand along the smooth, green scales of the dragon's side.

Fala had slashed it's throat. The shredded flesh was still wet, the throat torn open for the whole world to see. Beth felt tears sting her eyes. Who was he? Cain's uncle? His father? Maybe it was a she—a sister or an aunt. Beth turned and walked further, seeing another green shape in the dim light. It, too, had been slashed open. The tears began coming harder.

"She's killed them… she's killed them all." Beth leaned her head over the muzzle of the dragon, throwing her arms around it and sobbing. She could have vomited at her memories, recalling the way that she had callously accused the dragons of being monsters. These dragons weren't monsters; the thing that had slain them as they innocently slept had been a monster. These dragons had never deserved their fates.

Tentatively, she touched the Soulmate link. Did Cain know? She could feel anger, but there was no hint of sadness in her mind. He didn't know yet. He didn't know that he was the last.

"I found one!" Gawain called.

Beth lifted her head. Pain from her hand screeched up to her shoulder as she dried her tears. She tried to think of anything but the blood on the ground. She thanked her lucky stars for the darkness that hid her shame, and the fact that Fala hadn't cut the tendons in her wrist, and she prayed that she'd be strong enough to do whatever was needed of her. She walked towards Gawain's voice.

Somehow, the teenager had lifted a half-fallen wing of a dead dragon. He struggled to keep it lifted. Bethany peered under it. There, curled up underneath the wing, a sinuous tail draped over his snout like a cat hid under his tail, was a sleeping dragon. Somewhere behind them in the looming darkness a dragon howled. Beth heard Gawain gulp as she knelt by the dragon. His chest rose and fell steadily.

"I think the other dragon is done his supper…" Gawain eyed the dragon wearily. He judged it to be about the size of a school bus, half of it's body made up of the long tail. Sure, that was large, but considering Cain was about twice that size, it seemed pretty small. He eyed the forehead. The dragon had three horns. Sure, that made it powerful, but there was something to be said for having double the weight of your opponent in a pitched battle… "Do you think he can do it?"

Beth had hope to find an adult. This was just a child! That was why it had been held under the protected wing. Dragons may have been reptilian, but the mothers guarded their young like birds, apparently. She shook her head. "I… I don't know." She bit her lip and stared at Gawain. "I don't want to risk it. I can't ask this dragon to risk himself. There may be more young hidden like this, but right now…"

Gawain understood. He nodded slowly. He ducked under the wing, holding it open for Beth to follow. "Then we hide until we're ready. The baby dragon hid like this, and we're both small. There's plenty of room for us. With all this blood, I think the dragon will have a hard time figuring out where we are, exactly."

She climbed between the dragon of the large female and the warm body of the dragon. The scales were surprisingly comfortable, and the warmth from the dragon wasn't unpleasant, even if it was strong. Beth curled up on one side, clutching her wounded arm to her chest. Her fingers were slick with blood as she tried to slow the blood to help it clot.

Gawain's voice was barely audible. "How is it?"

"Bad… She cut it deeper—deeper than Mac did. I don't know if it will close. I don't suppose that you're a healer."

He shook his head. "I… My parents…" He stumbled and then sighed. "There's a reason I live with Mac, Beth. Let's just say that as a past, my education was sketchy. I specialize in reading and ceremonies and stuff. I can barely even make fire, and living with a werewolf and two vampires in a wooden house—let's just say they don't exactly appreciate it when I do try. Give me your hand. It's still worth a shot."

Beth passed her hand to Gawain. She felt his hand close around her wrist just as a pair of red-scaled, very large legs came into view. Both humanoids froze, hearing the dragon shuffling around them. Beth felt her vision growing darker. She struggled against it, but her body wasn't listening. It was tired, and the bliss that waited for her when her eyes closed was just too inviting.

Gawain felt Beth's hand become lax. The dragon's nose bent close to their opening, sending warm breath billowing around them. It lifted and the dragon turned away. And then, under the arm the still held Beth's limp wrist, Gawain felt the baby dragon shudder.

* * *

Kaneonuskatew had gotten in close. His teeth caught Fala's neck and she screeched in pain as Cain's sharp teeth dug into her slender neck. Furious, Fala lifted her tail and pummeled Cain. A lucky blow landed on the delicate structure of his wings, tearing through the thin membrane. Cain suppressed his bellow of pain and rage as one side of his body stopped functioning, sending them spiraling out of control towards the snow and tree covered mountain below them. He held on to Fala's body as they fell, refusing to let her go, though she struggled to flap her wings and escape from his death-hold. 

He bit down with all his might. Dragon bones and scales were too hard to crack by pressure alone, but he was doing his best to severe the spinal cord. The wind tore at his tattered wing as they fell. Finally, he knew he could hold on no longer. He released Fala's body, feeling himself fall on his own. Fala lacked the speed to recover with those small wings of hers. She twisted as she fell, trying to land on her feet, but the trees were all ready there. Cain lost what happened when she disappeared beneath the trees.

He forced himself to change as fast as he could, choosing his owl shape. The light of the closing daylight was almost painful, but the agility was worth the shape. As he fell and changed, branches scratched at him, flaking off some of the hard, glittering scales, and then feathers, and then he was too small. He wove nimbly through the trees, catching himself before he struck.

Circling to where he guessed Fala had fallen, he found that she was still alive, but just barely. The fall on the trees had damaged her greatly. She barely lacked the strength to lift her head. When she saw Cain, she laughed. Dark blood leaked from the corner of her hard, reptilian mouth.

_I killed them all, Cain,_ she told him mockingly.

Cain settled on a branch. _What?_

_The green dragons… I killed them all. I slashed their throats before I went hunting. I wanted to make sure that _her _blood wouldn't wake them up as well, so I killed them all. You may have won, you may have been stronger, but you're still the last, now._

He felt numb. Glaring at her, Cain shifted back into his true form. Fala wriggled in fear, knowing what was coming next. She didn't care anymore. He might have had the decency to kill her first, but now he wanted to cause her back every inch of pain she had caused him. He might have been merciful, but Fala had wanted to gloat. Besides, she didn't want mercy from him.

It was easier to die hating him believing that he was a heartless bastard.

She was too weak to even protest when Cain opened his jaws, bent his graceful neck, and pulled a strip of flesh from her side, swallowing it in one large chunk before he bent his head again.

* * *

Gawain was perfectly still as the dragon kept moving. The young witch was petrified that the dragon was going to make a sound and call the other dragon over to them, but the dragon didn't do a thing… not until it was fully awake. When the eye snapped open and the dragon found himself staring an unknown witch, a dying girl on his other side, and the blood of his family creeping slowly under his belly, he growled hard and low. 

Gawain used his other hand, still trying to help Beth, to gently brush the dragon's nose. "Shh. It's okay," he whispered. "We're allies. Just… stay quiet until the other dragon passes over, will you?"

The dragon opened his mouth, revealing sharp fangs. Gawain gulped. "I know you're scared. Cain… Kaneonuskatew will be here soon—hopefully—okay?"

**_Kaneonuskatew?_** Gawain winced at the voice in his head. **_Big brother?_**

"Yes," he sighed with relief, patting the large nose again. "Big brother will be here soon. We just have to stay here where it's nice and safe…"

**_I was having the strangest dreams…_**

"And you can tell me all about them, but do you think you could turn down your voice, please? It's very loud for me…" The dragon nodded, closing his large mouth, and Gawain breathed a sigh of relief. The sigh barely saw life before he heard an angry growl and the clawed foot return. Beside him, the dragon flinched from an inborn fear of the red dragon. Gawain motioned for him to remain silent.

Then the red dragon lowered his head, a single large, gold eye staring under the curve of the wing at them. Hot air billowed around them and Gawain felt the bottom of his stomach drop away. The dragon turned its head, it's long, dark tongue protruding. Gawain watched it as it licked the dragon's snout. The dragon's eyes were wide with fear, and that scared him even more than that tongue. The large dragon made an angry sound and then moved to Bethany, the tip of his tongue lapping at her side. The growl increased.

_I think it just wants the girl._

"Well, he can't have her!" Gawain hissed, clutching Beth's wrist tighter. Her blood was sticky on his fingers. He knew that the wound had managed to close, but she was still unconscious.

_Then we may all die._

"I'm as good as dead anyway. Cain—your brother—would _eat_ me if he knew that I let his Soulmate become a snack to some fucking red dragon!"

The dragon's head lifted slightly. The other dragon was struggling to push the wing back with his snout. _This girl and my brother are lovers?_ Gawain nodded vigorously. Not that he knew if they were or not, but they were Soulmates, so wasn't that the same thing? The dragon eyed Bethany. _Brother always had strange tastes. If she is his lover, then she kin._ The dragon began standing up.

"Where—what are you doing?"

_You are kin. We fight to protect kin._

"He'll kill you!"

_Then I will die with honor, fulfilling my duty, and I will be blessed for it._ Without another word, the small dragon launched himself at the nose of the other dragon, landing a few scratches on it before the dragon felt enough pain to pull away. It seemed like forever for all of the dragon to leave their hiding spot, first the large body, and then those wings, and then the long tail whipping along behind it. Gawain pressed his body closer to the ground, trying to see what was going on.

The little dragon was a hellion on wheels—or wings, he amended. His long tail had already injured one of the large dragon's eyes, and the smaller one was keeping to the blind side, whipping and shooting small balls of lightning at the dragon's flanks. Then, out of nowhere, a large great-horned owl came diving in at the dragon's other side, his talons raking at his beak pecking at the other eye. The red dragon howled in pain as the bird and the dragon dive-bombed him, beating him back. He lost sight of them, leaving only the frightening sounds of their battle.

Then, for a long time afterwards, there was silence. Gawain felt like he waited a lifetime laying on the bloody ground next to Bethany before he heard footsteps approaching. The boy balled his punching hand, gripping Bethany tightly so he didn't lose her in the darkness. He relaxed when he saw a familiar face peering under the wing at them.

"Bethany?"

"She's unconscious. Where's the other dragon?"

He pressed his lips together tightly. "We're cannibals."

Gawain had to take a long time to think about hat. "Oh."

He let go of Beth when Cain slowly lifted her from the ground. He held her in one arm, taking her injured wrist in the other and inspecting it gently with his callused fingertips. Only when Gawain heard Cain sigh in relief did he know that she was going to be okay, but he still couldn't help but be a little scared.

He hoped that he never found his Soulmate. He didn't know if he could care that much about someone. The way that Cain had sighed, the relief that filled it… it was like he would have died of a broken heart then and there if Beth wasn't going to live. Gawain couldn't imagine being that close to someone.

* * *

To be Continued 

Next time: The Epilogue


	14. Epilogue

**E p i l o g u e**

Beth felt someone brush her hair for her. She winced at the touch. She felt gross. Groaning, she opened her eyes. A familiar face stared down at her, with caramel-hued skin and blue eyes, and a smile. She smiled back at her half-brother. "Where am I?"

"Daybreak-run hospital. You lost quite a bit of blood there, sis."

She sat up, rubbing her head. Bethany stifled a yawn, glancing around at her room. Painted a warm shade of yellow, on the nightstand next to her sat some get well cards—she smirked when she saw they were from Roger, Alicia, Gawain, Zhi Niao, Emile, and Louis-Etienne. The vase of daisies which made the room smell nice were from Nic, and the homework stacked neatly at the base of the bed was from Kotori. Beth reached for it cautiously. She felt the IV in her hand move. It itched. She smiled thankfully at Mac when he passed her the homework.

"So why did they let you into a Daybreak hospital?" she asked, opening her homework to see what she had to do.

Mackenzie copied the smirk she had worn a second ago. "You've been asleep for two days. A lot can happen in two days, like say, a group of bad guys changing sides."

She lifted her head, surprised. "You're all Daybreakers now?"

He shrugged. "Except for Zhi Niao. She wanted to concentrate on schoolwork. Louis' having a hard time adjusting without her. It's the first time they've really been separated since they met, and he's used to being wild. Now he has strict rules to adhere to and no one to help him through it."

"There's you. You're a natural leader, Mac."

Her brother blushed. "Not that kind of helping, Beth. Turns out that Zhi and Louis were Soulmates. They just never bothered to tell anyone about it. I expect I'll be seeing a lot more of you, what with you being a Daybreaker too and everything," he added nervously. "I just wanted to… you know… see how you were doing and apologize and stuff. I know that I've made some mistakes in the past, and… if you're not ready to rip the flesh from my bones, I'd really like to try to make up for those mistakes. I mean… I know that we're bound by blood, but it's blood that we've always been trying to deny and…"

Beth leaned over and took one of his hands into hers. She smiled. "You know, it's strange but, being kidnapped and ritually sacrificed by my half-brother is really the least strangest thing that's happened to me in the past two weeks."

"I brought you a peace offering," he smiled. Reaching down, he pulled out a brightly wrapped package for her. She opened it to find a brand new diary for her and she burst out laughing. "I kind of broke your lock on the old one, so this one only you can open. I had Gawain spell it for me so only your touch can do it."

"How is Gawain?"

The vampire laughed loudly. "You'd scarcely recognize him, Beth. He went from being a loner, to all of a sudden being swamped by every single female witch in Daybreak his own age. He has a bunch of strong, intelligent, beautiful girls fighting over him. He's in every fifteen year old's dream." Both of them laughed about it, and then came the silence.

"What… what about Cain?" She could feel the connection to him, but she didn't know if he had joined Daybreak. For all she knew, he had run away and was hiding on some beach in Tiajuana… "Did he join Daybreak, too? I mean… they… they didn't order them put back to sleep or anything, did they?"

"Well, no, and Cain _has_ joined Daybreak, but it's a rather… tense situation. I think Daybreak is uneasy because they know that if he ever attacked them, they wouldn't have a way of controlling him… except that they have you on their side. And you, on your side, now have a vampire big brother, a smaller dragon who has chosen to call you sister, a rather fierce-looking red head, two bird-shifters, a witch, a werewolf, and a very large black woman I wouldn't want to meet down a dark alley." He grinned at her and patted her shoulder. "So I don't think they'll be taking advantage of you anytime soon with friends like that around to protect you."

"Where is he now? I kind of expected that he'd be here when I woke up…"

"Ah. You have to remember you're not the apple of his eye anymore, princess. Now he has to watch out for his little brother too. Our dragon has gone and gotten himself a job so that he can pay his rent and food for his brother. He's somehow concluded that working is the twentieth century version of hunting. I have the address for you… he says that when you feel comfortable, you can go and talk to him."

"I will…" she said tentatively, wondering why she had to feel comfortable to go and see her Soulmate. Then she thought about him and she shifted nervously, remembering their kiss. He might want to do that again, and she didn't know how to deal with that. She wanted to kiss him too, but it was only a few days ago she wanted nothing to do with boys. What would she say? What would she do? 'Hi. Thanks for saving me… again.'

Urgh.

"You really have changed since I met you, you know that?" There was a hint of pride to Mac's query. Beth glanced at him in surprise. She found him nodding slowly. "When I first met you, you sat there quietly and prayed for someone to rescue you. Now you're taking on dragons."

She shrugged, feeling herself blush. "I haven't really changed," she argued, knowing it was a lie. The Bethany that had existed two weeks ago would not have lashed out at a dragon or let Michael die, or been running around naked. But as she thought about it, she wondered if that was true. Two weeks ago, her biggest enemy was Michael, not an enormous red dragon. She hadn't really changed, she had just been thrusted into a greater world, where the dangers were that much bigger and scarier than she was.

But she hadn't been thrust into it alone.

"Mackenzie… I don't really know anything about you. Do you think, if Daybreak doesn't need you right now, that you could stay and talk to me?"

He inched his seat closer to her, leaning against the headboard of her bed. His smile was open and friendly, and it made Bethany feel strangely comforted to see it. Slowly, she let her head relax and leaned on his arm, their dark hair mingling as their heads bent closer. "And what would you have me tell you, princess?"

"I don't know. Just tell me about yourself."

So he did, and not for the first time.

* * *

In no time at all, Beth found herself back at school. She struggled to get back on top of her homework and her grades. Daybreak was leaving her alone, apparently giving her time to recuperate psychologically and emotionally from everything that had happened. Cain wasn't in school. She occasionally found herself staring at his empty desk longingly. Cain had made school interesting. She missed helping him with mathematics. She missed seeing him at lunch. Lunch felt odd. Beth chewed her processed ham sandwiches dispassionately, more than once staring at her hand, wondering if she had actually managed to change her nails into retractable claws or if it had just been in her head.

There was no Michael to bother her. His friends gave her and Kotori a wide berth. In turn, the people who were friends with them also gave them a wide berth. But all the other kids in the school weren't. She found herself surrounded by the younger students, the smaller students, the quiet kids, and the anyone else she'd ever seen Michael or his friends pick on. For the first time in her life, Bethany found herself popular. Kids she had never seen before were coming up and sitting with her and Kotori, staring up at them with wide, awed eyes.

"They say that if people pick on you, they only do it once," one of them told her. "We're tired of being picked on. There's safety in numbers, after all."

Then, one day, Bethany was putting away her books in her locker when she heard a familiar voice. She shut the door and turned to see Cain standing down the aisle, laughing with some other boys his own age. Beth's face broke into a smile. She was so happy just to see him that she never thought to wonder why their connection hadn't alerted him that he was close. She cried out in utter joy and ran to him, throwing her arms around him. The boys that he had been talking to stared at her awkwardly. She looked up and realized that she wasn't hugging Cain. Oh, the boys called him that, and it was Cain's body, but it wasn't Kaneonuskatew wearing that familiar mask.

"Hello, Beth." She pulled herself away from him, feeling uncomfortable. The boy smiled brightly, taking her by the arm. "Meet Joshua and Sven. They want me to join the soccer team. Guys, this is my friend Beth. Mind if I talk to her for a second?"

The nodded and he practically pulled her away, towards the gym leading to the hallway where they could talk in some privacy. Beth ripped her arm from his grasp and pointed a finger at him, jabbing it in his torso until he was flat against the wall. "What did you do with Cain!? Why are you in his body!?"

He gently slapped her hand away, rather insolently. For a moment she was taken aback that this person—who appeared the same age as her—was treating her like an impudent child. He touched her wrinkled nose lightly, cutting off the growl rising in her throat.

"Down, kitten. You want to get us caught and thrown into detention for disturbing a gym class? I'm the dragon you woke up—the green one," he added, seeing her face flicker with fear. "I'm your Soulmate's younger brother. He says I have to go to school, and since he's working to pay for food on our table and stuff, he said I could use this form." His eyes glittered and he eyed her. "He also said that because this Cain had made it clear that he liked you, I was supposed to flirt with you and make it clear that you were taken at every possible turn."

He laughed when she appeared ready to punch him. "Well, no, he didn't, but he did say that I was to use this body and go to school and learn all I could about this world. I'm also supposed to keep an eye out for you, so you can get used to the idea of me being around. I'm supposed to keep you safe and if I see anyone picking on you, I'm supposed to tell him so that he can… let's see… I think his exact words were 'rip their insolent tongues from their sullying mouths'." Much to her surprise he smirked and put his hands in the front pocket of his jeans. "My brother is a bit melodramatic."

"You seem to have caught on to English faster. Your brother still doesn't use colloquialisms like you do."

"Of course he doesn't. He's stiff and fussy and that's why we love him. You're going to have to come over for supper soon. You have to explain to him that if I want to go out on a date with a girl, it doesn't mean I'm going to marry her. He won't let me date. Which is so totally, like, _not_ fair because he has you and I need a girl, too…"

The dragon scuffed at the ground. Beth found herself struggling to keep from laughing at him. He was just so blissfully _normal_! She had met so many people in the past week worried about the end of the world, and racism, and war, that it was actually refreshing to be around someone whose largest concern was getting a date. "You're not at all like I thought you would be."

"And you're not exactly the type of girl that I thought my brother would end up with." He shrugged blithely at her curious expression. "I just always thought that my brother would either end up with this very nice little homemaker type or a wild, warrior woman. He didn't get either. He got you instead. You hardly seem like a warrior, but you're not this docile thing that will let him walk all over you. It's just..."

The dragon paused. He was at a loss of words. He decided to switch topics. "He misses you, you know."

"He… he does?"

"Yeah. Can't you feel it? I've seen him sneak out, a few times. I think he circles your house at night, just to make sure that you're okay, but I think he usually does it after you'd've gone to bed, that way you won't get all huffy that he's trying to protect you. I think it's nice of him to do it, so don't tell him I told you. I mean, it's not like he's going and sitting outside your window and watching you change or anything… I just thought that you might like to know that he misses you."

Beth straightened, pushing her hair over shoulder and grabbing her knapsack. "I guess I can't put it off for any longer. I have to go and see Cain." She thought of something else and glanced over her shoulder. "What do I call you, anyway?"

"Here at school I'm Cain."

"That's going to get a bit confusing," she said, pursing her lips. "What should I call you outside of school?"

He shrugged. "I'll tell you when I thought of a good nickname to go by."

* * *

After school that very day, Bethany went to go and see Kaneonuskatew. The address she had gotten turned out to be a butcher shop. For half an hour Beth sat across the street, trying to sort out exactly where she stood and where Cain stood. She sat at an independently owned café, sipping a hot chocolate.

When it was done, she knew that if she continued to hesitate, she'd never do it. Worse, after spending that half an hour watching the connection she had with him, not touching it, just watching for any sign of reaction that he knew she was close, there was nothing. He was giving Bethany her privacy and she liked that. She respected that. She didn't want someone who would fret over every little paper cut and insult she got. She wanted someone who would come to her when she _really _needed it, and he had.

Picking up her backpack, Beth marched across the street to the small butcher shop. Pushing in the door, there was a nice jingling sound. Behind a large counter, Cain looked up. His long black hair had been pulled tightly back, and he was wearing a white apron that he had somehow managed to keep amazingly clean seeing as he was currently standing over a piece of meat, cutting with a rounded tool Beth didn't recognize. He looked totally normal. He wore jeans and a grey shirt, and yet somehow Beth kept picturing him wearing nothing but oiled skins. Her eyes landed on the necklace her wore—a claw of some kind on a leather thong that hung around his neck--before her gaze returned to his face. She watched as he slowly smiled.

"Hello, Bethany."

She knew that he could no longer speak with a heavy accent, as if the words he made were foreign in his mouth. He had rid himself of much of it since he had first joined school. But he still pronounced her name awkwardly. It was no longer drawn out because it was strange on his mouth, but because he enjoyed drawing out each syllable. She smiled back at him. "I thought that warriors like yourself weren't supposed to show emotions, in case people learn about your weak spots."

He resumed cutting the meat into thin slices. She watched him work, peering around the counter. He had fine hand-eye coordination. The metal tool was so sharp that it was slicing the meat into thin, nearly translucent strips and yet his fingertips were mere millimeters away from that sharp edge. He slapped the piece over on the wood block and then cut a small strip from the venire of meat, scooping it up on the half-moon-shaped tool and passing it her way.

"Try it. I smoked it myself, so it's perfectly safe to eat like this."

She reached out and took the strip he was offering her. The meat was slick and she struggled to keep it between her fingers. When she stuck it in her mouth, the smoky taste almost overpowered the taste of the meat. Beth chewed thoughtfully, finding the tough meat easy to chew when it was cut so thinly. She swallowed, blushing when she realized Cain was raptly watching her expression change from curious to delighted. The taste of the meat made her stomach feel satiated in a way all the Dijon-ham sandwiches in the world never could.

"You like it, then?"

"I do," she said eagerly. "What is it?"

"It's a deer." A large man came out of the back room, lugging a large cooler. He set it down and when he turned, Beth's eyes widened in surprise. Duncan, the large black man she had only ever seen wearing clean-cut suites and leading Daybreak, had traded in his clothes for a smeared white apron, a pair of acid-wash jeans, and a white t-shirt. He didn't embarrass Beth by acknowledging her surprise. "Cain went out and hunted it, skinned it, and prepared the meat himself. It's the best damn deer we've ever sold."

The man in question shrugged, still cutting the smoked meat. "Shapeshifters need to eat raw meat. This is fit for human as well as animal consumption. It's only selling so well because it tastes good and appeals to a wider variety of buyers."

"I don't know how we ever got along without Cain, Beth. My brother is proud that I convinced him to hire Cain. All I hear when I see him is what an asset he is, and how much their sales have increased."

"Then… then you don't own the shop?" she asked curiously.

Duncan laughed. "Hell, no! My brother owns it. I just help out now and then when Daybreak is slow. Anyway, I'm sure you two have a lot to talk about. Cain, I'll be in the back. Call me if we get a customer."

The dragon nodded. Beth eyed him curiously. "You don't work with customers?"

He smiled flirtatiously at her. "Actually, Mr. Duncan believes that the reason why we've had an increase in the number of customers is because I'm the one standing behind the counter all day. He thinks that I attract more female customers." Cain chuckled dryly when he noticed that there was a growing crease between her eyebrows at the very idea of women coming in to check him out. He set down the meat and washed his hands. "We have a saying for cute girls who stare like that."

"Yeah, so do we. I'm sorry about coming and bothering you at work, Cain."

"Nonsense. How else would you get in contact with me? You don't exactly like using the Soulmate connection unless it's absolutely necessary. You're not the type of girl who would abuse a connection like that needlessly… So, what do you want to talk about?"

She blinked, pushing her long hair over her shoulder as she stared at him. He was leaning over the counter, putting his eyes on the same level as hers. Beth leaned her head to the side. Looking at him was making this much easier than she had worried it would be.

"Where do we stand, Cain? I'm so used to the idea of us being enemies that now that we're not and we're on the same side…"

"And working together," he added. When he saw her expression, he muttered a curse. "Nicolas hadn't told you that, then? Daybreak has assigned me to work with you. They don't want me working with Mac in case we egg each other on, and they're hoping that working with you, you might perhaps be able to keep me under control." A dry chuckle escaped him when he saw that Beth rolled her eyes at that idea. "They know about our connection, and with my telepathy, it means that I can communicate to you and relay your messages to others that way you don't have to worry about microphones anymore. I believe that Nicolas laughingly referred to me as his communications officer."

"How do you feel about working with me?"

"I think we'll work along well together, I just don't know if I like going from being a terrifying dragon to a communications officer." He was delighted with the corners of Beth's mouth turned up in a grin at his comment. Cain had found that he enjoyed making her laugh. "I am also concerned, Bethany. I never thought of you as my enemy, try as I might. We are Soulmates. Working together or me being here instead of at school cannot change that fact."

"I know, but… I just don't know what you wanted. I mean, you're older than I am, and you're prepared for so much more, and you're always so much more together than I am, and I don't know what you want. Do you want to see me again? Do you want a relationship? Do…" He silenced her, pressing a fingertip to her soft lips. Beth's lips tingled at the contact, sparks dancing along her skin at his very touch. The touch softened, and he let his hand brush her cheek, running his thumb over a long scratch that crossed one of her cheekbones. Beth found it suddenly so very painful to breathe.

"I want _you_, Bethany."

She felt her lips shake as she tried to speak. Why did looking at him always make her head feel light and fuzzy? "I can't change my shape, you know."

He smiled, leaning across the table. Slowly, his lips brushed hers. Beth leaned up on her toes to press herself into the kiss, unable to wait for it any longer. She had wanted to kiss him, to be wrapped up like this for so long that she was almost sorry when she found her body leaving her far behind. For the first time, she found herself being pulled into someone else's mind.

His mind was a barren peak, but it was inviting and warm. All of his thoughts were neat and orderly and carefully tucked away, even from her. It wasn't like her mind at all. He stood when he felt her presence. She had expected him to see himself as a dragon, but she was wrong. In his mind, he was still himself, just as he had been when they first met. Beth glanced down at herself and saw that she was herself, just as they had first met. And then, as she watched, she felt herself change, and grow, and heighten and shrink. She shifted between human, half-cat, and cougar with each flickering emotion.

Cain smiled at her patiently. She shivered in delight at the old wisdom in those eyes. "You don't have to be able to change, Bethany. Seeing you in our minds, I will never forget that you have the instincts. You don't need the body. I like your human body, and I am looking forward to watching it grow." When she blushed and looked away, he gently touched her chin, making her look up at him. "Shifting will not make me love you more, Bethany."

He broke the kiss. She licked her lips. He tasted smokey and she wondered if he'd snuck a taste of his meat. "Why did you show me that?" she muttered.

"Because had I not done it like that, you would have wondered if I was said it because I knew it was what you wanted to hear. Had I been lying, you would have known it. Besides, I wanted to kiss you again. I told you before, Bethany. I wanted to kiss you. I have something for you."

He reached into a pocket and pulled out a claw on a leather thong, just as he was wearing. This one was different. It was stained a little red on one side. Beth reached out and took it. It felt a little familiar. It wasn't a claw, she saw. It was too blunt. It was… her jaw dropped. "F… Fala's horn?"

Cain nodded. "I went back and got it for you. Now we both have one, because we took her down together. It will warn other dragons to beware of us. Besides, horns are the seat of a dragon's power. Even if Fala is dead, there remains some power in the horn. Perhaps it will bring you good luck." They heard the door-bell chime and he looked up to wave a greeting at a customer before he glanced down at her. She watched his hand tighten to keep from reaching out and touching her in farewell. "I need to get back to work."

"I know." Beth winked at him and slipped the horn over her head. It felt strange, hanging down between her breasts. It was cold, but as it pressed against her skin, it began to feel warmer. Though it would be a little uncomfortable to wear all the time, she didn't think she'd ever take it off. She wished he'd kiss her goodbye, but she knew he wouldn't. What would the customer think? Beth looked like she was in middle-school and he was a grown man.

She was quick to leave the shop. She turned back at the door. "Hey, Cain?" He glanced up. The woman was perusing the cold-cuts section. "Do you still want to learn algebra? Great! I'll see you later tonight! Bye, Cain!" Beth waved cheerfully and fled the shop.

Her Soulmate was a dragon. She was teaching him algebra. He was a three-horned dragon who worked in a local butcher shop. Beth thought it was odd—she thought it was odd that she didn't think it was odd. She grinned, holding the horn through the fabric of her shirt. The sky was cloudy. As she walked home, the dark clouds overhead opened up. Snow began to fall. She paused to enjoy the flakes as they landed on her red cheeks, melting there. Winter was coming. The Apocalypse was coming. Beth knew she should have been worried, but she wasn't.

So long as she had her friends and Cain, she knew that she'd get through it.

The Apocalypse couldn't be any harder to survive than the past two weeks.

* * *

**Fin**


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